Western and South Asian countries prefer India as their medical tourist destination. Though in terms of medical expertise and quality of public health care, countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia offer competition to India, but in terms of affordability of tertiary services, India has been a preferred destination. Indian pharmaceuticals should leverage this opportunity. Complete Coverage: Coronavirus
Crux of the Matter
Strategic Opportunity for India India’s existing advantage of large-scale pharmaceutical production allows it to significantly leverage its soft power by investing in the outward growth of the healthcare sectors of other nations by firstly increasing exports, becoming a preferred medical tourist destination and pursue medical diplomacy by providing medical training and technical expertise to many other developing nations.
Major importers of Indian pharma. (Scale in Million USD)
Apart from the above countries UNICEF and UNITAID also rely heavily on generic drugs manufactured in India for their aid programs and thus there is a great potential for India’s pharmaceutical sector now to increase trade partners both regionally and in other parts of the world.
Indian Pharma’s Muscle in Numbers According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), pharmaceutical exports of India from 2012 to 2019 have steadily grown from $10 billion to $19 billion. India accounts for about 10% of world’s pharmaceutical production by volume and 1.5% by value. The industry is the world’s largest supplier of generic drugs and controls around 18% of the global market. It is also a leading producer of vaccines in the world and caters to about 50% of global vaccine demands.
Curiopedia
India is the largest supplier of generic drugs globally. India’s exports account for 20% of the generic medicines traded. In 2017, the Indian pharmaceutical industry was valued at $33 billion.
In 1994, 162 countries including India signed the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, which stipulated that patents had to be given to all inventions including medicines. India succeeded in including a crucial clause to the agreement in the form of the right to grant compulsory licenses (CLs) to others to manufacture drugs in cases where the government felt that the patent holder was not serving the public health interest.
Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is India’s one of the oldest pharma companies. It is based in Vadodara, Gujarat and was founded in 1907. It is the market leader in the macrolides segment of anti-infective drugs in India.
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