PMO sought report in March: Amid fall in pharmaceutical exports, a commerce dept report ‘under preparation’

On March 28, the Principal Secretary to the PM Nripendra Misra chaired a meeting with senior central government officials on the topic of “review of pharmaceutical issues”. The minutes of this meeting state: “The fall in exports and impact on domestic growth to be studied by Department of Commerce and remedial measures to be suggested.”

According to a CARE Ratings July 2017 report, the USA alone accounted for 40.6 per cent of the Indian pharmaceutical exports. “In 2015-16, exports to the USA surged by 27.8 per cent to $5.5 billion on a year-on-year basis. However, the export scenario to the USA weakened and it grew by a marginal 1.3 per cent to $5.6 billion in 2016-17,” the CARE Ratings report stated.

“The prime reasons for the weak exports were price erosion in the generic market in the USA due to consolidation among customers i.e. the distribution channels, increase in competition, absence of blockbuster drugs going off patent and regulatory issues faced by Indian pharma companies,” the report added.