Notwithstanding recessionary trends, pharmaceutical exports surged 21.7 per cent in July while in the first quarter ended June the growth was 11 per cent.

``It’s a big jump when the economy has been witnessing a slowdown in some sectors,’’ R Uday Bhaksar, Director - General, Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), told newspersons at a press conference held here on Friday.

In the first four months of the current fiscal, pharma exports grew by 13 per cent at $ 6.72 billion. "Going at this pace, the year may end with a higher export at about $ 21-22 billion during FY20,’’ Uday Bhaskar said.

Indian pharma exports stood at $ 19.14 billion in 2018-19 comprising bulk drugs, finished dosage formulations, Ayush, herbs and surgicals. Including the domestic share, pharma industry touched $ 40 billion.

When asked on drivers for export growth, the official said better price stability in the US market and the general increase in volumes were among the factors. ``If you see the global economy, every country is trying to cut costs in healthcare. There is no country in the world other than India which offers quality drugs at affordable prices which peps up global demand for our drugs,’’ he added. In the first quarter, exports to US, China, Japan and Iran went up by 30 per cent, 37 per cent, 32 per cent and 169 per cent respectively as per Pharmexcil data.

China, Japan markets

``To sustain the growth we need to penetrate China and Japan markets in a big way and reduced dependency on Active pharma Ingredients (APIs) and intermediates imports from China,’’ he said. At present pharma imports from China are in the tune of $ 2.5 billion.

On the directions of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India, Pharmaexcil has conducted a detailed study on measures needed for import substitution in pharma sector. ``The report is ready and will be submitted to the Government in few weeks . We see need to promote pharma clusters for the production of chemicals, intermediaries and APIs,’’ he said.

Global meet

With the support of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Pharmexcil will be organising an `International Regulators’ Meet’ during September 19-20, 2019. Over 40 top officials from regulatory bodies from 25 countries will attend the meet besides top executives from India including Drug Controller General of India, state regulators and industry experts. The conference is aimed at international regulatory convergence to promote accessibility and affordability of quality medicines.