India's dependence on China for bulk drugs on the rise

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24

India’s aspiration to reduce dependence on China for raw materials to produce bulk drugs has remained on paper so far. It has increased since the outbreak of Covid as the import of raw materials from China rose to Rs 19,402.60 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 16,443.10 crore in 2019-20, up 18%. The data was shared by Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma in the Lok Sabha recently.

Drug makers say slow movement on the policy front for encouraging domestic bulk drug industry and economic considerations led the pharma companies to continue relying on Chinese imports.

In March last year, the Central government had approved the scheme to set up three bulk drug parks to make active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates to reduce the dependency on China, but even after one and half years, the much-hyped bulk drug parks are nowhere in sight.

The government proposed to develop three bulk drug parks through grant-in-aid to states with a cap of Rs 1,000 crore per park with 70% financial assistance. The delay in announcing the park is costing the pharmaceutical industry dearly as exporters from China increased the prices of raw materials by up to 150% in the past one year. The industry has requested the Centre to act fast to become self-sustainable as far as raw material is concerned.

“The industry has been pleading for the inclusion of brownfield projects for bulk drug parks, but the government is keen on developing greenfield projects. The gestation period in a greenfield project is anywhere between 18 and 24 months whereas the brownfield project can be started within six months and the cost of operation in the brownfield project is 30-40% lower than the greenfield project,” said Dinesh Dua, past chairman, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India.

According to estimates, 70% of India’s API requirement is met through China. The industry is also dependent on China for certain products such as antibiotics, vitamins, hormones, anti-viral, anti-TB, anticonvulsants, analgesics, antipyretics etc.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s third largest by volume, providing 20-22% of generic drugs globally.