Telangana key player in pharma exports

Telangana exports vaccines and pharma products to more than 150 countries

Hyderabad: Pharma exports from the country for the nine months ending December stand at around $21 billion (about Rs 1,72,000 crore). Of this, Telangana has been accounting for about 20-30 per cent of the total exports.

Telangana is home to a vast number of companies that are into manufacturing of generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Telangana exports vaccines and pharma products to more than 150 countries. Telangana has world’s largest USFDA approved facilities in a single province at 214 which surpassed New Jersey’s 189.

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“Pharma exports from the country for the nine months ending December stand around $21 billion,” said Ravi Uday Bhaskar, Director General of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), an export promotion wing set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The pharmaceutical exports from India from April 2021 to March 2022 stood at $ 24.6 billion (about Rs 2,01,720 crore) at current rupee-dollar value. These exports were just 0.71% more than $ 24.4 billion recorded during 2020-21. In 2020-21, the growth was 18% over $ 20.7 billion achieved during 2019-20, according to Pharmexcil data.

The target for the financial year 2022-23 was $ 27.4 (about Rs 2.16 lakh crore), which is about 10% over the previous year. So far, about 21 billion has been achieved till December.

In 2021-22, drugs, formulations and biologics accounted for 73.3% of the total exports and was followed by bulk drugs and drug intermediates at 18%. Vaccines, Ayush and herbals and surgicals accounted for the remaining of the exports.

India is now the 11th largest market and is expected to be ranked as 9th largest by 2025. Seven India based companies feature among the top 20 global generic companies as per turnover (in 2020).

India is one of the biggest suppliers of low-cost vaccines in the world. Indian medicines are preferred worldwide due to the low price and high quality. It is the largest exclusive generic exporter in the world. About 55% of exports are to highly regulated markets like North America and Europe and the USA is the leading exporting partner (29%) of India by country.

The cluster approach of Telangana like developing Pharma City at Mucherla, will help the pharma industry with domestic as well as export markets. “Pharma City project is in its final stages. Once it is ready, it will be a manufacturing hub of international importance,” said IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao at the curtain raiser of industry event BioAsia, which will be held in Hyderabad from Feb 24-26. It will have international standard facilities, a pharma university and others..it will also have a medical college, nursing school and hospital working together with it. About 14,000 acres have been acquired already.

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel had informed the Rajya Sabha earlier this month that the pharmaceutical exports of Telangana during fiscal year 2021-22 stood at $4,446.78 million, which is $ 800 million more than 2020-21. The pharmaceutical exports of the country during the same period stood at $24.5 billion, which is $150 million more than fiscal year 2020-21.

Patel stated that the pharmaceutical exports of the country during fiscal year 2020-21 stood at $24.4 billion, whereas Telangana’s export stood at $3672.65 million . Similarly, during fiscal year 2019-20 the export of the country stood at $20.7 billon, whereas, from Telangana export stood at $2972.25 million.