Strategy for Increasing Exports of Pharmaceutical Products

Strategy for Increasing Exports of Pharmaceutical Products 1. Introduction The pharmaceutical sector is one of India’s most important sectors in terms of projected revenue growth from exports and for meeting the needs of Indian population. There are a larger number of markets to which Indian pharmaceutical companies can now export as a result of global trade liberalisation and capacity building by Indian companies over the last decade. India, considered as a knowledge intensive economy, is looked upon to make available drugs that are affordable to the developing countries. The recent contribution of Indian generics in fighting AIDS and its contribution to affordable healthcare in US and elsewhere is widely acknowledged. 1.1 Mandate, Methodology and Analysis 1.1.1 Mandate Department of Commerce, Government of India decided to constitute a Task Force on pharmaceutical exports to suggest measures for boosting exports in a sustainable manner. Accordingly, a Task Force was constituted under the Chairmanship of Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, incharge of Pharmaceutical exports, vide Office Order No.13/6/2006-EP (CAP), dated 18th July, 2006. The report of the task force has been delayed inordinately. The reasons are not far to seek. The mandate of the task force was as follows: (i) To examine the problems being faced by the exporters of pharmaceutical products in consultation with the stakeholders and to prepare short term, medium term and long term action plans. (ii) To review the progress of exports of pharmaceutical products and suggest measures of achieving the growth targets. (iii) To act as “Think tank” and make appropriate policy recommendations for boosting exports and generating more employment in the sector. (iv) To consult the trade and industry and identify policy and procedural bottlenecks and suggest ways to eliminate them. Report of the Task Force, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, December 12, 2008. 13 It was soon realised that an analysis of measures pertaining to foreign trade policy alone would have only touched the surface of the challenges facing a sector which has the greatest potential for growth. Moreover prospects of increasing exports are very intimately related to the challenges faced by the sector at home and unless some of them are examined, the committee would only have done partial justice to its mandate. The task force had a clear conviction about the connect between the domestic environment in which the sector works and its impact on export prospects. The last two terms of reference in any case required interaction with a wide cross section of the sector. This realisation led the task force to carry out a wider interaction with the stakeholders particularly with the experts in the industry and all this lead to unusually long time. Strategy for Increasing Exports of Pharmaceutical Products 1.1.2 Methodology The Task Force has primarily used consultative process in formulating this paper and the data for the same has been gathered through various structured and unstructured meetings among representatives of Department of Commerce, Government of India, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals including the newly constituted Department of Pharmaceuticals, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of Ayurved, Unani and Siddha medicine and various institutions such as Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers Association (ADMA), National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), etc., and various inputs, research reports and statistics provided by members of Pharmexcil, and other industry experts. In order to carry out consultations with industry experts many unstructured discussions were organised by the chairman of the task force and representatives from the industry have given wholehearted participation. Report of the Task Force, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, December 12, 2008. 14 This report seeks to discuss separately various segments of pharmaceutical industry such as Generic Pharmaceuticals, Contract Manufacturing, Drug Discovery and Contract Research Services and Indian System of Medicines because of the distinct nature of the problems that require to be addressed by each of these broad areas. Within each area, this report seeks to address, the challenges faced by domestic industry and suggest initiatives to be taken by Govt. of India. Whereas the report tries to address most of the issues which were brought before it by stakeholders and were considered significant by the taskforce, there is a likelihood of some of the issues having been missed out. In most cases it could be because of inter-se prioritisation leaving out the lesser of the issues to save on space and maintain the focus.