Indian Pharma Exports Grow at 18 Percent to 24.44 Billion in FY 21

India has reported a growth of 18.07% in pharmaceutical exports that touched an all-time high of $24.44 billion during the fiscal ended March 2021, up from $20.58 billion in the previous fiscal.

The strong growth in Indian pharmaceutical exports comes at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic had pushed several economies and businesses across the globe to the brink and the global pharmaceutical market saw negative growth.

India has also reported highest-ever monthly exports of $2.3 billion in March this year, according to the quick estimates compiled by India’s commerce ministry that were released by the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) on Saturday.

This translates into a growth of 48.5% over $1.54 billion of pharmaceutical exports India reported in March last year that witnessed crunch in exports globally owing to lockdowns-induced supply chain disruptions.

“The growth in pharmaceutical exports reported in the latest fiscal year is the highest in the last eight years,” said the Pharmexcil director-general Ravi Uday Bhaskar, adding that the country expects to continue the trend owing to increased demand for Indian made generics and vaccines.

“We are expecting big growth in our vaccine exports in the coming years and the government policy on PLI (production linked incentives) scheme will also help the Indian pharma to grow by reducing import dependence and develop export potential in the days to come as most of the countries are looking at India for APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients),” said Pharmexcil statement.

The Council said its efforts in penetrating the markets of around 40 countries other than North America and Europe during the pandemic by way of virtual business meetings with the support of the Department of Commerce and India Missions abroad have yielded positive results in the growth of exports.

The North American market continued to account for more than a third of India’s pharmaceutical exports and saw a growth of 12.6% during the last fiscal. Indian pharma exports to Canada and Mexico reported a growth of 30% and 21.4% respectively.

India’s pharma exports to South Africa, the second largest exporting nation, saw a growth of 28%, while Europe, the third-largest exporting region recorded a growth of 11%.

Pharmexcil said there was a growing demand for Indian pharmaceutical products in non-traditional markets like Latin America and the Caribbean (14.5%), CIS (23.5%) and the Middle East (17.5%). Further, the Council said unexplored markets like Australia, UAE, Uzbekistan and Ukraine also saw substantial growth in pharma exports.

Source: ET