Pharmaceuticalexports grew by 5 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, at $13,361 million compared to $12,723 million in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
“Overall exports in September grew by 9 per cent that is the second highest monthly growth after April, which recorded 9.43 per cent. This is a positive sign for the overall growth in pharmaceutical exports,” R Uday Bhaskar, Director General, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), told businessline on Sunday.
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Growth drivers
The growth was driven by greater demand, increase in export scale up of mid-level pharma companies in India and clearance of pending site inspections by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Bhaskar said.
The US, the UK and Brazil were the top 3 destinations for Indian pharma exports that are at $4142 million, $370 million and $336 million, respectively. As per the data, all the three top regions such as NAFTA, EU and Africa LAC are showing healthy growth.
“At this run rate, overall exports in the current financial year of FY24 are likely to surpass the $27-billion mark,’‘ the Pharmexcil DG pointed out. “Due to the Israel-Hamas war, drug shortages might increase, and India’s exporters may get some additional benefits which can result in higher quantum of exports over next 2-3 months, he added.
Due to the war — times shortage for drugs, Indian companies were already asked to fill in the gap as a measure of emergency even without market authorisations that might augur well for India’s exports., according to Bhaskar.
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In 2022-23, pharma exports to Israel grew 40 per cent at $92 million, compared to $60 million in the previous year. The Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the last five years is 22 per cent, as per Pharmexcil data.
Pharmaceutical exports have registered a 3.25 per cent growth in FY23 at $25.3 billion. In 2021-22, the exports growth was almost flat at 0.71 per cent at $24.62 billion.