New Delhi: India’s pharmaceutical exports continued its lead over China in 2015. India’s pharma exports grew from $11.66 billion to $12.54 billion in 2015 recording a growth of 7.55 per cent. Meanwhile, China increased its exports of pharma products from $6.59 billion to $6.94 billion in 2015 showing a growth of 5.3 per cent. “India moved ahead of China in all important markets such as the US, EU and Africa,” said the commerce ministry on Tuesday.
India’s exports of pharma products to the US jumped from $3.84 billion to $4.7 billion in 2015, a growth of 23.4 per cent. China’s pharma exports to the US moved from $1.16 billion to $1.34 billion in the same period showing a growth of 15 per cent. India maintained its lead with growth in the EU and Africa recording exports of $1.5 billion and $3.04 billion respectively. However China’s exports to EU and Africa showed a declining trend in both the markets.
However, going forward India exports may face challenges. Crisil Research had said that exports growth in formulations could decline sharply to 10-12 per cent annually over the next five years, compared with a growth of 19 per cent seen in the last decade. “Exports of generics have been the growth engine of the industry for a long while now, but the script is changing because the value of drugs going off patent is declining,” said Crisil.
