During the 34th annual convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian-Origin (AAPI) that ended last week in New-York, the USA ambassador of India Arun Singh praised Indian pharmaceutical companies as he predicts that by the year 2020, India is likely to become one of the top 3 pharmaceutical markets in terms of growth and is projected to be valued at $55 billion by the 2020 becoming the 6th largest global market in terms of size
Indeed, the industry has shown significant growth during the last 10 years increasing from $6 billion in 2005 to an estimated $55 billion in the year 2020. In 2014, India exported $11.7 billion worth of pharmaceutical goods. The top 10 countries imported 56.5 percent of that total with the Unites Stated topping the list with 3.8 billion imported representing 32.9 percent of the total imports. [visualizer id=”19656″]
As of now, the market in dominated by branded generics which account for about 70 to 80 percent of the Indian market and the country is amongst the largest provider of generic drugs representing approximatively 20 percent of global exports.
Although the United States is a major importer of Indian pharmaceutical goods, India’s pharmaceutical industry is well implanted in the African continent with four African nations present in the top 10 pharmaceutical importers. These figures are expected to grow as the Indian Prime Minister Narendra recently signed bilateral deals with Kenya pledging to strengthen ties between both countries.
Another factor contributing to this success is India’s low cost of production which is notably lower that the USA and almost 50 percent lower than that of Europe. This allows India to maintain a significant edge over its competitors.