India aims to clock $15.5 bn pharma exports in FY'13

India aims to clock $15.5 bn pharma exports in FY'13

SINGAPORE: India is aiming to export pharmaceutical products worth $ 15.5 billion in 2012-13 fiscal, a jump of around 17 per cent compared to $ 13.22 billion in 2011-12,Ministry of Commerce and Industry Joint Secretary Mridul Jain said here today.

The $ 25 billion target, however, for pharma exports in 2013-14 would be a challenging task in view of global slowdown, she added.

"Our industry has told us about the economic impacts on pharmaceutical orders especially from Africa and least developed countries where health campaigns have slowed down," Jain told PTI after addressing an Indian pharmaceutical seminar in Singapore.

"...it would be challenging to meet the $ 25 billion export target for 2013-14," she said.

The industry was in a position to capture other emerging opportunities, especially manufacturing of "off patent" products or products with expired patent, which would offset some of the decreases in orders, Jain added.

Underlining the Indian government's policy of "zero tolerance" on quality of pharma products, she said "track and trace barcodes" has been introduced on consignments exported to the global market as part of the ongoing promotions and quality assurances of "Made-in-India" products.

"We continue to stress on efficiency, efficacy and quality of the pharmaceutical products," said Jain.

The European and American markets accounted for 55 per cent of the Indian pharmaceutical product exports, reflecting that most of these products were made to the highest specification of the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

"The export volumes to the European and US markets speak volume about the high quality of Indian pharmaceutical products," said Jain, adding that the products were shipped to some 220 countries.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry reported business growth of about 15 per cent on compounded aggregated growth rate between 2006-07 and 2011-12.

Further, market initiatives were underway to promote exports, especially the International Exhibition for Pharma and Healthcare (IPHEX) to be held April 24-26, 2013 in Mumbai.

"We will be hosting 300 international buyers and 100 regulators from major markets at the exhibition to showcase Indian products," she said.

Over 600 Indian companies would participate in IPHEX, being organised by the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India, set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.