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The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) is upbeat to have achieved about 3 per cent positive growth in the export of pharma products from India during the last financial year, despite having seen a slump of 8 per cent from its traditional markets in United States of America.
According to Udaya Bhaskar, director general of Pharmexcil, after having seen a slow and marginal growth of pharmaceutical exports in 2015-16 and 2016-17, Indian pharma exports have regained its growth momentum in 2017-18 and could achieve a positive growth of about 3 per cent in exports. The director general opined that the main reasons for the slump down in the US and other western markets is due to stringent regulatory issues and price erosion which have led to an export decline of 8 per cent from these traditional markets.
However, the DG expressed optimism and said that for the first time despite decline of exports from its traditional markets, India’s exports in other new markets have considerably increased, which is a positive sign for Indian pharma sector. “Earlier, India used to earn a major chuck of its export revenue for its pharma products from the US markets, but because of various reasons like price erosion and other regulatory hurdles, we have been witnessing a slump down, but the positive aspect is that despite slow US markets, our exports have opened up newer markets in Commonwealth Independent States (CIS), Africa and Russian markets. Of late Pharmexcil with the support of ministry of commerce has also succeeded to venture into Chinese markets for our generic products. So definitely India is optimistic of its pharma export growth and in future apart from US, other markets will play a greater role,” observed the director general.
Earlier, there was always a worry for the Indian pharma industry that if the growth in US markets is declined then there will be an overall impact of the Indian exports, but now India has come out of that fiasco and is able to drive its growth even from the newer markets, opined Udaya Bhaskar.
With exports witnessing 3 per cent growth for the last fiscal 2017-18, Indian pharma exports touched to a first time high of UD$ 17.26 billion. This growth was mainly possible because of newer markets like CIS and Africa, and China has also contributed considerably. For instance, Indian exports to China increased from a mere US$ 137 million in 2016-17 to US$ 200 million in 2017-18 with a growth of 37 per cent. “The value may be less, but the point to be focused is achieving of breakthrough into newer territories. The Chinese government has even imposed zero duty on 103 anticancer drugs being imported from India. So in the coming days Indian pharma exports will definitely very high potential of growth,” the Pharmexcil DG expressed hope.
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