Indian pharma industry on cusp of growth spurt, CPHI Worldwide audience told

Country expected to grow threefold over the next decade due to increased focus on complex generics, biosimilars and specialty products

Speaking at the CPHI Worldwide online conference on Tuesday, Shrinivasan said he believed the Indian industry was going to move beyond being a volume-driven industry to a value-focused one.

“To do this, we need to understand that what has made you successful so far is not necessarily going to bring you future success,” he told the conference. “So far, the Indian industry has done generics very well; fast, right, cheap and easy. What they need to do now is explore the world beyond simple generics and look at far more complex generics and specialty products.”

Shrinivasan said India also needed to leverage contract development and manufacturing on a much greater scale.

“Often we notice that contract development and manufacturing still remain in the country of origin. What is important is to try and see how India can capitalise on growth the CDMO market, get into high technology, difficult-to-manufacture products and be able to establish,” he continued.

He said that the third and most important ingredient for future Indian pharma growth was establishing the country as a global R&D innovation hub: “Creating its own molecules, creating its own biologics – that is where the future is.”

Shrinivasan said that over the last three years, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has transformed itself from one that is dependent on medicines to becoming a net exporter and almost a world leader.

“The journey is only half done; there is still a lot more that the Indian pharma industry needs to do, it’s already well underway and it’s going to be the powerhouse to watch out for in the next decade to come,” he said.

He said the Indian pharma industry has grown tenfold in the last 20 years from $4.2 billion in 2000 to $41.7 billion in 2020, driven by its strength in the generic medicines market.

He added that the country was well on the way to medicines self-sufficiency, with the share of ‘Made in India’ drug products in the domestic market at 80% in 2020, compared to just 5% in 1969.