Pandemic helps India's drug exports cross $24.4 billion, highest in 9 years

India’s pharmaceutical exports crossed $24.4 billion during the pandemic, the highest growth of 18.4% ever recorded over the past nine years.

As per data available with the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), sales of several products for the treatment of COVID-19 have soared and contributed to the high growth. While some of the products have grown by over 200%, even regularly used paracetamol combinations have grown by 45%.

The high growth was boosted by demand for COVID-19 vaccines and drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, which were being used to treat patients in the initial stages of the pandemic.

Geared up and met most requirements

Ravi Uday Bhaskar, director general of Pharmexcil said during the first phase of the pandemic, many developed countries could not cope with the high demand of products used in coronavirus management. India, on the other hand, could gear up and meet most of the requirements.

Between April 2020 and February 2021, India had already done business worth $21.5 billion, an increase of about 12.5% compared to the $19.15 billion worth of exports during the corresponding period in the last fiscal, said Mr Bhaskar.

While the generic medicine market in the 2020 calendar year grew just 3%, India’s exports of generics grew to a high 19.53% during fiscal year 2021, he added.

A robust demand from most economies boosted India’s exports. Major regions such as the USA and Europe brought good export growth due to increased demand for drugs, especially antivirals and antibiotics for the treatment of COVID-19. In addition to this, global de-risking of the supply chain has boded well for the Indian bulk drug exports.

Chinese supply disruptions in early 2020 and persistent quality issues provided an opportunity for Indian pharma players as many global customers started looking at India as an alternative supplier of bulk drugs. Moreover, Indian API exporters have also been able to garner good realisations on their exports.