Did you know that India is termed as the Pharmacy of the World? India is known as the Pharmacy of the World because it is the biggest supplier of low cost vaccines and generic drugs to the entire world. The high competence and trustworthiness was again highlighted to the world when the coronavirus vaccines were created by Indian pharmaceutical companies. Thus getting tagged as the saviour and protectors of the world. This rapid and consistent progress has attracted considerable foreign investment in the form of FDIs making pharmaceuticals a superior and dependable sector.
In the face of the deadly pandemic that shook the world in 2020 Indian Pharma companies exported medicines to the world and kept the supply chain going even when the world had come to a standstill during the national lockdown. Read on to find out more about pharmaceutical sector and the companies in India:
Overview of the pharmaceutical sector in India
- Pharmaceutical exports from India of medicines and drugs manufactured in India are shipped to more than 200 countries worldwide which also include developed Western countries.
- The pharmaceutical companies have in turn maintained their quality standards while also maintaining their affordable costing.
- The high and rapid growth of the pharmaceutical products in India has been accelerated due to the presence of a skilled workforce that is guided and hand-held in the right direction by high managerial and technical leadership.
- Cipla, LUPIN, Piramal Healthcare, GlaxoSmithkline, Novartis India are few top pharma companies in Mumbai
- While Indian companies such as Zydus, Bharat Biotech and Gennova worked on developing indigenous vaccines, other domestic companies collaborated with global giants such as Serum Institute with AstraZeneca, Dr Reddys with Sputnik and Biological E with J&J for getting out the vaccine.
- After relentless efforts put in by Indian scientists and pharma companies, Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D, and Sputnik V are the vaccines approved for inoculation across the country.
What is next for the industry?
According to reports:
- ‘Pharma Vision 2020’ by the Government’s Department of Pharmaceuticals aims to make India a major hub for end-to-end drug discovery.
- Spending on medicine in India is projected to grow 9-12% over the next five years. That would place India in the top 10 countries in terms of medicine spending.
- Indian government has plans to set up a fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore (US$ 1.3 billion) to provide a boost to pharma companies to manufacture pharmaceutical product ingredients domestically by 2023.
Going forward, better growth in domestic sales would also depend on the ability of companies to align their product portfolio towards chronic therapies for diseases such as cardiovascular, anti-diabetes, antidepressants and anti-cancers, which are on the rise.
In addition, the Indian Government has taken many steps to reduce production costs and bring down healthcare expenses of the average Indian citizen. The focus has continued to remain on rapid introduction of generic drugs into the market which obviously will work to benefit the Indian pharmaceutical companies and the industry. In addition, the government also has a focus on rural health programmes, research for lifesaving drugs and vaccines also will benefit the pharmaceutical companies.