India still heavily reliant on China for life saving drugs despite PLI booster: Report

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

India’s overall pharma imports, bulk drugs continue to contribute 55-66 per cent and dependency on China for the same is expected to remain high in the coming years, report from CareEdge showed on Friday. The report revealed that India's 43 per cent of total pharma imports are from China, indicating a heavy dependency and raising concerns due to the on-going geopolitical tensions between the two Asian countries. «The contribution of bulk drug imports from China has exhibited significant growth in both value and volume terms, increasing from 64% and 62% during FY14 to 71% and 75% during FY23, respectively,» the report said.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is estimated to grow at 7 to 8 per cent in FY24-FY25. The bulk drug imports too have witnessed a steady Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 7%, reflecting the industry’s growing reliance on these essential components.

New Delhi is dependent on China particularly for life saving drugs. “This situation raises legitimate concerns about the availability, cost, and uninterrupted supply of crucial medicines in India's healthcare landscape,” the report said. India's dependency on Key Starting Materials (KSM) from Beijing exceeds 50%. India also imports certain formulations which account to 30 per cent to 35 per cent along Ayush and Herbal, and Surgical products, accounting to the rest. However, the imports of these is diversified.

The total project completions in the drugs and pharmaceuticals industry during FY24 are expected to be around $516 million which is the highest registered during the last decade, as per the CareEdge report. Primarily, the