Indian Pharma Sector – Post-Covid Emergence on the Global Landscape 

India has a rapidly growing pharmaceutical market that, being the third largest pharmaceutical industry in the world by volume, holds a prominent place in global health. 

Over the last decade, the Indian pharmaceutical market has seen increasing domestic and foreign investment and also an increase in Pharma deals has been observed in India driven by continued growth in exports, internal market expansion, as well as the current demand for covid vaccines during the pandemic. We have observed that in the midst of the pandemic and a changed world, the pharmaceutical industry across the world has responded with agility. 

According to the EY report, the Indian pharma industry has grown at a compounded growth rate of (CAGR) of ~11% in the domestic market and ~16% in exports over the last two decades. While the domestic market has grown at a similar pace to the gross domestic product (GDP), the overall growth has been driven by the industry’s leadership in supplying generic formulations to markets across the globe.

In the 2020-2030 period, we expect Indian pharma industry to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~12% to reach at US$130 bn by 2030 from US$41.7 bn in 2020. Though the pharmaceutical industry has grown at a CAGR of approx. 13% over the two decades, in the last decade, the CAGR has been ~ 8.5% and it has currently been ~6.2% over the past five years. 

As estimated that the Indian pharma industry supplies over 40% of the generics in the biggest pharma market – the US and about 25% of the prescription drugs in the UK, along with catering to over 60% of the global vaccine demand, India is one of the leading suppliers of pharmaceuticals in the world.