Demand for Covid vaccines, hydroxychloroquine pushes India’s pharma exports to 5-year high

[safari2021]

New Delhi: Boosted by the demand for Covid-19 vaccines and drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, which were being used to treat patients in the initial stages of the pandemic, India looks set to break its pharmaceutical export record of the last nine years. Exports in fiscal year 2020-21 have already been the highest in the last five years, but a bigger achievement seems in the offing, according to government data.

“Between April 2020 and February 2021, we have already done business worth $21.5 billion, an increase of about 12.5 per cent compared to the $19.15 billion worth of exports during the corresponding period in the last fiscal,” Udaya Bhaskar, director-general, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), told ThePrint.



“We are expecting exports to cross $24 billion for FY-2021, a growth of over 16 per cent from the last fiscal,” Bhaskar added. This includes all commercial consignments of Covid drugs and vaccines, such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), the anti-malarial drug being used to treat Covid patients in the initial stages of the pandemic and the Covid vaccine, Covishield.

Pharmexcil was set up in 2004 under the provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy, to promote pharmaceutical exports from India, and functions under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry

While the rise in export figures is not phenomenal, it is the highest growth since the 2012-13 fiscal, when the pharmaceuticals industry had recorded a growth in exports of 24.75 per cent. This was followed by single-digit growth in three fiscal years and negative growth in one fiscal


Exports were weak even in the first part of 2020, but picked up with the demand for HCQ in the first phase of the pandemic, followed by exports of Covid vaccines. Between last April and this February, India has exported $21.5 billion (Rs 1,50,500 crore) worth of pharmaceuticals, recording a growth of over 12.5 per cent against the same period in the last fiscal.

Top importers
US, South Africa, UK, Russia, Germany, Nigeria, Brazil, Canada, France, and the Netherlands have been India’s biggest customers for pharmaceuticals in the past 10 months.


“Apart from Covid vaccines, this year India’s vaccine exports mostly comprise essential medicines for scheduled immunisation programmes. A large part of our exports are through NGOs serving in Africa, Latin American countries, and Asia. These three continents contribute to 80 per cent of our vaccine exports,” Bhaskar said.

“Almost 60 per cent of the vaccine requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO) are sourced from India and 90 per cent of measles vaccines administered around the world are supplied by Indian companies,” he added.


Pharmexcil does not have separate data on exports of Covid-related drugs and vaccines. Data from Pharmexil show that the industry recorded around 18 per cent growth in the export of drug formulations and 2.5 per cent growth in vaccines between April 2020 and Feb 2021.


The export of drug formulations between April 2019 and February 2020 was worth $13.8 billion (Rs 96,600 crore), which increased to $16.3 billion (Rs 1,14,100 crore) between April 2020 to February 2021, a hike of 18 per cent.


The export of vaccines increased to $772.5 million (Rs 5407 crore) in the past ten months, from $753.8 million (Rs 5271 crore) in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, a jump of 2.5 per cent.