Indian Pharmaceutical industry aims to increase the size of India’s Pharmaceutical Industry to $120-$130 billion by 2030 and increase its global share by 7%. For this to happen Indian Pharmaceutical industries are seeking more incentives from the government to increase investment in research and development (R & D) of pharmaceuticals.
Mostly India is known for exporting generic drugs, the goal of the Indian pharmaceutical industry is not only in its export market but also to be self-reliant for research in the long run.
Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance states that the focus needs to be on creating an ecosystem and set of policies that are conducive for the industry to invest more in Research and innovation, enhance quality standards to increase its market accessibility in export markets and become self-reliant in years to come. This will strengthen India’s position as the top producer by volume by 2047. In the last two budgets of India, the spending on healthcare was 2% of total GDP.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon and Biologics hope each year that the budget will come up and increase to incentivise investment into research and innovation / R&D by the pharmaceutical industry, this common view is shared by others from the industry.
For the Pharmaceutical and biotech sector, she said that much like the production-linked incentive scheme there is a need for a research-linked incentive scheme. It is crucial to encourage research and innovation/ R&D. For Indian medicine to grow there should be increasing in research and innovation so India can become a hub for new drug discoveries and development. She feels it is also critical to build scale in the existing operations. She said that a research-linked incentive scheme with scope for tax deductions could be a key enabler for pharmaceutical companies to invest in research and innovation. The journey from lab to market is long and arduous and therefore tax incentives for investing in research and innovation can play a very important role.
