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BCG and HealthKois in a joint report, ‘Built on Scale, Turning to Science: India's Pharma and Life Sciences Innovation Opportunity’ has mapped the momentum in drug discovery, advanced therapeutics and AI, alongside the structural gaps in capital, clinical trials and R&D that India must close to build a globally competitive innovation engine.
Drawing on 30+ in-depth interviews with founders, pharmaceutical executives, investors and ecosystem leaders across India and global markets, together with analysis of patents, venture investments, innovation pipelines and global datasets, the report finds measurable progress across novel drug assets, advanced therapies, AI-enabled discovery and platform technologies.
India has produced over 10 novel drug assets over the past decade. PE/VC investment into pharma rose 2.1x in five years to $731 million in FY26, and biotech startups grew from roughly 1,500 to 2,400. The report demonstrates that this scale can anchor a new phase of innovation, by strengthening early-stage capital, translational research, clinical-trial infrastructure and specialist regulatory capacity.
Four enablers are converging to support India-origin innovation: around $5.0 billion of government funding for early-stage and translational research; a strengthening role for academia through industry partnerships and technology-transfer offices; regulatory reform that has compressed drug-development timelines from 180–270 days to 60–120; and shared R&D and manufacturing infrastructure such as Genome Valley and C-CAMP. Early proof points of lab-to-market translation are already visible including BIRSA 101, India’s first indigenously developed CRISPR-based therapeutic, and NexCAR19, priced at roughly one-tenth of comparable overseas CAR-T therapies. Small molecules account for about 49% of PE/VC investment and 58% of active patents, while AI and digital therapeutics attract around 17% of private capital.
Despite carrying nearly 15% of the global disease burden, India conducts only around 4% of global clinical trials, while annual pharmaceutical R&D spending remains at $2 to 3 billion compared with $70 to 75 billion in the US. The next five years will determine whether India evolves into a global innovation originator the conditions are in place.
“We are seeing a fundamental shift in ambition from replication to origination, and from process excellence to scientific discovery. Realizing this potential will require building specialist biotech capital, deepening academia–industry partnerships, creating fast-track regulatory pathways, and bridging the talent gap in R&D and innovation,” said Priyanka Aggarwal, managing director and senior partner, BCG India and Southeast Asia Leader, Healthcare Practice.
“What stands out is that there is no single playbook, Indian companies are proving multiple routes to global relevance: developing novel science in India first and taking it worldwide, out-licensing India-origin innovation to global players, and spinning breakthroughs out of academic labs," said Abhinav Anand, partner, BCG.
“For years, the conversation around Indian healthcare innovation was about cost and scale. That is changing. We are seeing India-origin science licensed by global pharma majors, and indigenous CAR-T therapies treating patients at a fraction of the global cost,” said Charles Janssen, co-founder and managing partner, HealthKois.
“India is at a genuinely exciting inflection point, shifting from replication to origination, with multiple forces converging to make that possible. The country is building a differentiated advantage by combining cost, data and scientific talent in ways few countries can match. Our role is to fuel that engine by providing patient capital, domain expertise and specialist networks that help companies scale, said Ajay Mahipal, co-founder and general partner, HealthKois.
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