Centre says Indian MedTech, pharma industry expected to touch USD 200bn

Indian drugs, pharma and MedTech industry is expected to touch $200 billion by 2030, three to four times the current size, said Arunish Chawla, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

According to him, private investment, R&D and backing by government’s policy intervention will see the industry become “an exporter of most major MedTech products by 2030”.

Sources say, Indian pharmaceuticals (pharma) industry commands a significant share of over 20 per cent of the global medicine supply chain.

“The MedTech, drugs and pharmaceuticals industry (in India) was valued at $20 billion in 2020 and has been achieving consistent double-digit growth year-on-year. And by working with the industry, private investment, policy interventions like the production-linked incentives, strengthening of R&D, we hope to become $200 billion by 2030, that is three to four times the present size,” Chawla said on the sidelines of a CII event organised here on Friday.

According to him, India is already an exporter in several categories of drugs and MedTech and with the push through adoption of new tech, modern labs, and R&D across private and public sector, India has the potential to emerge an exporter of most major MedTech products.

Chawla said the PRIP scheme has been introduced to further prop up the pharma sector and the Ministry is working with both industry and academia to “formulate” detailed guidelines.

In August, the government introduced the Scheme for Promotion of Research and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology Sector (PRIP), 2023, under the National Policy on Research & Development and Innovation in the pharma MedTech sector.

R&D spend
Incidentally, India’s R&D spends in the sector continue to be lower compared to developed nations like the US and developing ones like China. India spends about 5 per cent of what the US spends and a fifth of China’s.

As per the Standing Committee on Health report in 2022, while the US spends 2 per cent of its GDP in health research, India ranks far behind, earmarking only 0.01 per cent.

Coming in this backdrop, the PRIP scheme is aimed at pushing established pharma companies and biggies to engage in “collaborative research” with NIPERs (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research); provide financial assistance to companies expediting market launches, push for commercialisation of products among other. Financial support was also made to be made available to Indian start-ups and MSMEs carrying out research projects in identified priority areas.

“We are working on the framework where academia, government funding, private players, and others are dovetailed together. The MedTech industry is resource intensive and it is not for government or private alone to be there…. So we are strengthening the industrial support systems including common facilities and assistances that we can provide to the industry; bring together private and public sector in R&D,” Chawla said. The Hindu BusinessLine