The risk capital, which is used to fund innovation in the pharma sector, is limited in India, said Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
Raghuvanshi was speaking at the FE Healthcare Summit & Awards 2025 on Wednesday.
Further, he said that corporates need to step up their efforts to attract international investors into India. According to Raghuvanshi, in order to provide an enabling environment, the regulator’s approach has shifted towards light-touch regulations, focusing more on efficiency in execution.
Raghuvanshi also said that the domestic pharma industry needs to look beyond the generics space. Perceived as a “pharmacy of the world”, India has primarily focused on the generics segment thus far by supplying close to 20% of the generics medicines globally (by volume).
He also said that domestic pharma companies have to move beyond being a volume player to a value player, and invest in areas where the margins are high.
In a panel discussion titled “Catalysing Next Wave of Growth: Primary Care to Personalised Cure,” Satish Reddy, chairman of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said that the growth strategy of pharma companies like Dr Reddy’s is to expand beyond generics. He cited two examples where his company has ventured into different categories.
In April last year, for instance, Dr. Reddy’s formed a joint venture with Nestlé India to bring innovative nutraceutical brands to consumers in India and other agreed territories. The partnership was forged to bring together the well-known global range of nutritional health solutions as well as vitamins, minerals, herbals and supplements of Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) backed with the strong and established commercial strengths of Dr. Reddy’s in India.
Similarly, Dr Reddy’s acquired Haleon Plc’s global portfolio of consumer healthcare brands, outside of the US, in the Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) category.
During the discussion, Arvind Lal, executive chairman of Dr Lal PathLabs said that non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, and blood pressure are becoming a problem area for the country, and there’s a need to monitor the lipid profiles of individuals so that they maintain a good health.
