Global Challenges for Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

Global Challenges for Indian Pharmaceutical Industry – India’s​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ pharmaceutical industry is still a major source of power worldwide and is ranked 3rd by volume in 2023–24, with a market size of around US$50 billion. However, the sector is hindered by substantial challenges on the global stage. These include chronic underinvestment in healthcare (only ~1.1% of GDP), pricing pressures, regulatory complexity, and an overworked workforce. Swisschem Healthcare is still willing to work through these difficulties by doing business ethically, being innovative, and making up for it with the energy of partnerships to help India remain a major player in the global pharma ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌market.

The word Globalization has made every market a breeding ground for cutthroat competition. Indian government offered various policies and acts in favour of the industry. This includes Special Economic Zones (SEZ), excise duty-free zones, exemptions for taxes etc. Even after major benefits, the pharmaceuticals industry is seeing a slow growth. The demand for medicines is high. With advancement in medical science, the drug formulations have also taken a turn. There are major global challenges for Indian pharmaceuticals industry to face.

What Are The Reasons Behind Slow Growth of The Pharma Industry in India?

Our pharma industry has a great goal to attain. The government has pampered the sector with better rules and regulations. One can see a good future. We are the top manufacturer an exporter of generic drugs. Our manufacturing industry has made us capable enough to foresee a better future. Recent few months have been very challenging with Goods & Service Tax (GST) and Demonetisation took action. This was just a phase. Some of the common yet major reasons behind our slow growth are:

1.  Many companies have not embraced the better technologies that global companies have adopted. This affects the initial output where the service is being underpaid.

2.  India has a large pharma domestic market. Many of them lack pure market knowledge. This negligence is one of the reasons behind the stagnant growth.

3.  Globalisation is the integration of domestic and foreign markets on the world platform. When India gave its Liberalisation Act, it made the domestic market vulnerable to cut-throat competition. The companies opened new branches and units here which hindered the domestic growth.

4.    Paper works are lengthy and complex. Many times the business may run into illegal activities. This is also one of the main reasons why our pharma industry has been unable to attain a good growth.

Challenges Faced By The Pharmaceuticals Industry in India on Global Platform

The pharma sector has been a mix of both organic and inorganic. The companies are expanding themselves through partnerships and licensing. This helps in expanding their product offerings and improves their output to a better level. The future of pharma is bright but still, it is hindered by a list of reason which we are going to discuss now. Take a look at the global challenges for Indian pharma industry:

·        The healthcare spends by the government is low (1.1% of GDP) in comparison to many other countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa etc even after having a good economy. This encourages Out of Pocket (OoP) expenditure. This one o the major challenge India has to fight.

·        The cases of acute to non-infectious chronic illnesses are increasing. This will need a greater budget for India to cover the national healthcare and medical needs. The Oop expenditure will increase and this will ultimately lead to crisis and misery to the general public. This has limited the access of medicines to other consumer and their growing demands. Thus, hindering the growth.

·        Comparing our drugs on ‘purchasing power parity’ and ‘per capita income’ basis has pressurised the companies to make reasonably affordable medicines. This has reduced the quality of medicines. Profits of registered companies are seen but the degrading quality is rarely taken into consideration.

·        The pressure on the pricing of patent drugs is also the main challenge for India. These lefts with low profit for companies to invest further for growth.

·        If compared to need of healthcare professionals to suffice the whole population, the manpower is being overused. Where we need 109484 doctors there are only 26329 only.

Conclusion:

The poor conduct of the companies is also a major cause which is posed as a challenge for the pharma sector. By adopting greater means of ethics and compliance, the sector can attain a good position in later years. Adopt digital strategy and tools which will help in automation in Pharma domain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ 1. What key global challenges are holding back India’s pharmaceutical growth, even as it ranks third by volume?

Answer: The challenges for India include the aspects of healthcare spending, price limitations of patented drugs, and the complexities of regulations that combine together inhibit the process of creating new products and reduce the country’s competitiveness in the international market.

Question 2. How does underfunded public healthcare in India affect the pharmaceutical industry’s global potential?

Answer: The condition of healthcare based on a low investment in this sector leads to the situation where a major part of these expenses has to be paid directly by the households, and as a result, the demand for medicines is getting limited by access, and thus, Indian pharma companies do not have the chance to grow further both in scale and profitability.

Question 3. Why do regulatory hurdles and complex paperwork slow the global expansion of Indian pharma firms?

Answer: The lengthy and complicated compliance procedures, licensing, and bureaucracy aspects consume the time of organizations that could be spent on cooperation, and thus, it becomes difficult for Indian firms to grow efficiently in the global market.

Question 4. How can Indian pharmaceutical companies like Swisschem Healthcare tackle the manpower shortage and quality-price tradeoff?

Answer: Through investments in morally acceptable production, the use of digital technologies, and the enhancement of their R&D capabilities, companies will be able to not only solve the problem of quality and affordability but also raise the level of the workforce ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌worldwide.