The Indian pharmaceutical industry has got everyone’s hopes high with its recent announcement as far as its growth targets are concerned. Currently set at USD 38 billion, the homegrown pharma giant is all set to touch USD 120 – 130 billion mark by 2030.
In June 2019, the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) published “The Indian pharmaceutical industry – the way forward”, a report featuring research-based pharmaceutical companies in collaboration with McKinsey & Co. and other stakeholders.
Indian pharma industry growth plan Vision 2030 predicts that the industry would help establish India as a global leader in life sciences. Meanwhile, domestic growth factors including affordability and accessibility would remain unaffected.
The report suggests that at its current standing of 7–8% CAGR, the industry is expected to see a growth of about USD 80–90 billion as annual revenues within the next decade. However, the industry is confident of an 11–12% CAGR and growth of about USD 65 billion in the next 5 years and about USD 120-130 billion by 2030.
Indian pharma industry growth plan envisages:
- Accelerating growth in the domestic market with product accessibility and affordability
- Investment in next-gen innovations and product research
- Dominating the US market by increasing ANDA filing for new patent drugs and attractive pricing offers
- Product launches in underutilized markets such as Japan and China.
The IPA added that in order to achieve Vision 2030 goals, the stakeholders should work towards making high quality and affordable drugs available not only pan-India but also around the world.
The stakeholders also need to devise strategies for becoming the world’s leading and most reliable supplier of prescribed drugs to grow to USD 120-130 billion by 2030.
On the other hand, when it comes to policies and ecosystem, the Indian pharma industry requires immense support from the government and other regulatory bodies to achieve its targets. The following is expected from the government:
- Assure universal healthcare access by improving healthcare infrastructure and increase technological applications including online consultations, healthcare apps, etc.
- Enable a more stable and supportive regulatory ecosystem with easy, coherent, and transparent regulatory policies that smoothen favorable pricing and drug approval process.
- Develop a dedicated Ministry for pharma for easier and quicker processes of policy making, product approvals, investment decisions, and so on. An independent ministry also helps in better coordination and hassle-free decision-making.
- Restructuring the industry by focusing more on domestic production and exports, with reduced reliability on imports.
- Cement innovation by developing a favorable research environment through new educational institutions for research and innovation, tax interventions, technology transfers, etc.
- Expand global outreach with adequate international collaborations by way of exchanging best practices and improve market presence by launching into new markets in China and Japan and working closely with international regulatory bodies.
Indian pharmaceutical industry Vision 2030 depends a lot on government support whether in the form of investments or regulatory interventions. Meanwhile, the government is already working towards supporting the Indian pharma industry by increasing budgetary allocations for healthcare, the launch of Ayushman Bharat, and attracting investments for pharma parks, and so on.
