In a bid to boost the India-China pharmaceutical trade, the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), under the Ministry of Commerce, will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products on August 20 to speed up drug approval processes, thereby opening the Chinese market for Indian exporters.
With the slowdown in the North American market, the move is aimed at reviving other markets for exports growth.
According to Ravi Uday Bhaskar, director-general, Pharmexcil, the MoU will help get faster drug approvals from the China Food and Drug Administration. “The Chinese market is slowly opening up after regulatory changes and the Chinese government has removed tariffs on certain cancer drugs. All these create a conducive atmosphere for Indian drug exporters,” Bhaskar said.
China is the second big market after the US market in terms of volume. “The Chinese government has also simplified product registration procedures. Pharma exports to China during the last fiscal registered a growth of over 37% to $200 million against $145.5 million in 2016-17,” he said, adding that Indian companies can now expect to get licences for export to China within six months of application.
Meanwhile, Indian pharmaceutical exports is likely to cross $19 billion during the current fiscal. Pharma exports fetched $17.27 billion in the previous fiscal. During the first quarter of FY19, pharma exports clocked a 17.76% growth to $4.6 billion against $3.9 billion during the year-ago period, Bhaskar said.
“Pharmaceutical exports is slowly growing, with key markets gaining traction and making up for the slowdown in North America. Despite increasing regulatory concerns and pricing pressures in global markets, coupled with the cartel of major distributors in the US, the industry is showing signs of growth after exports in 2016-17 had declined to $16.4 billion as against $16.9 billion in the previous fiscal,” he said.
“After remaining in the negative territory for the first five months of 2017-18, pharma exports have been increasing year-on-year since November 2017, despite slowdown in the US for a combination of factors,” Bhaskar said.