The ongoing political crisis in Ukraine is adversely affecting Indian pharma companies’ business.

Ukraine is a key market for Indian drug-makers, and is also seen as a gateway to the 12-member Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). There are about 30 Indian firms doing business in the civil strife-hit country at present, industry experts said.

According to Santosh Varalwar, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Vivimed Labs, the industry might have to wait till the New Year for the situation in Ukraine to improve. Hyderabad-based ₹1,360-crore Vivimed had received approval from Ukraine regulators for export of finished dosage formulations about five months ago, and was hoping to export drugs worth ₹60 crore to the CIS region.

“In October, we could not utilise full market potential due to the crisis and exported drugs worth ₹4 crore to Ukraine,” Varalwar told Business Line .

According to Saumen Chakraborti, Chief Financial Officer, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the geopolitical situation in Ukraine remains a concern for the industry. The company had also attributed the 13 per cent decline in its revenues from the Russia and CIS regions to the currency issues and the Ukraine crisis, among others.

Dr Reddy’s and Ranbaxy are the major Indian pharma companies operating in Ukraine. Others are either mid-sized or small entities.

“The possibility of the spill-over impact on business in other CIS states is a concern for others, who are not directly present here,” said a senior functionary of a pharma company, which is not present in Ukraine.

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