India as an Advancing- Emerging Pharma Hub

India is all set to drive affordable innovative healthcare solutions for the global world. India, being home to the world’s largest population and a rapidly growing economy, has seen a significant rise in domestic demand for affordable and innovative healthcare solutions. To ensure sustainable growth of the MedTech sector, the core mission remains on patient well-being and developing high-quality, cost-effective medical devices for both domestic and global markets.

Driving Global Health and Access 

It was India’s role in supplying vaccines, essential medicines, and medical supplies during COVID-19 that it gained international recognition as the “Pharmacy of the World”. India’s pharmaceutical exports ranked 11th globally in value terms in 2023 and accounted for 3% of total pharmaceutical exports. 

With a 10-12% expected growth rate, India’s pharmaceutical sector is expected to reach $100 billion by 2025, fuelled by robust domestic manufacturing. Similarly, India’s biotechnology sector is expected to reach $300 billion by 2030. The growth in the biotech sector will not only enhance job employment in India but also lead to growth in pharmaceuticals, food processing, agriculture, etc.

The Indian pharma industry also supplies 55-60% of UNICEF’s vaccines and meets 99% of WHO’s DPT (Diphtheria, Whooping cough and Tetanus) vaccine demand. 

Currently, the majority of growth in the pharma sector is fuelled by metropolitan cities, Tier-1 cities, and rural markets, each of which hold approximately 30% of the market share. Policy support and push for more competitive manufacturing has helped create jobs for millions of young Indians, from factory workers to scientists. 100% FDI in medical devices and greenfield pharma projects, had also made India a hotspot for global companies.

PLI Schemes to Boost the pharma Sector 

The Production Link Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the pharmaceutical sector under Atmanirbhar Bharat will help in manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials (KSMs), drug intermediaries and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The scheme provides financial incentives for production of specified pharmaceutical products across three different categories. The focus of the scheme is to increase drug security, provide support to domestic production capability, and ensure higher resilience of the Indian pharmaceutical industry to external shops. These initiatives will also help India achieve affordable healthcare in the country and globally on a sustained basis.

The PLI scheme for medical devices has also commissioned manufacturing of medical devices such as linear accelerator, MRI machines, CT scans, mammograms, C-arms, ultrasound machines, etc, for Rs. 1356.94 crores. 

Along with the PLI scheme, the Government’s  Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) runs 15,479 Jan Aushadhi Kendras that offer generic medicines up to 80% lower than branded ones. This access to generic medicines is not only making expensive medicines available to a larger population but also reducing our need for imports and increasing exports.

Under the Bulk Drug Parks scheme with an outlay of 3000 crore, mega hubs are being built in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to make medicines cheaper and faster. The scheme promotes setting up bulk parks and world class common infrastructure to increase competitiveness of the domestic bulk drug industry.

Way Forward 

The pharmaceutical sector in India is poised to usher in a new era of drug manufacturing and testing with exports extending to both developed and developing countries. Enhanced R&D efforts and knowledge sharing can help India become a true global leader and manufacturing hub for pharmaceuticals. 

This also needs collaboration between public and private research institutions, increased funding, and government support for driving further growth and innovations. The current existing schemes, along with India’s general push for the Make in India campaign, render a conducive environment for investment, innovation, and business development.