The Hindu Business Line : Will Indo-Pak bonhomie open up export of medicines?

EVEN at times when relations between India and Pakistan were at their worst, when the two countries amassed their armies along the border following the attack on Indian Parliament — the business community on either side were comfortable interacting with each other. Only, in the case of pharma products, it had to be re-routed through Dubai," recalls Mr Naresh K. Gupta, Lupin's Executive Vice-President - API Marketing.

A clutch of Indian pharma companies, including Wockhardt and Lupin, export drug intermediates (raw material) to Pakistan.

Currently, they are closely watching whether the present bonhomie between the two countries would extend beyond cricket to opening up the trade for finished drug formulations or medicines, as well.

"Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) or the raw material has been on Pakistan's import permissible list for sometime now. The finished forms are not and what would make a difference to people on both sides would be if formulations or the finished forms were allowed too," observes Mr Lalit Kumar, Wockhardt's Executive Director.

Currently, medicines make their way to Pakistan through porous borders in Punjab and Rajasthan, say pharma industry officials. Medicines in Pakistan are about three to five times their price in India and procuring medicines from India would bring down prices for consumers in Pakistan, observes Mr D.G. Shah, Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance. However, he observes, "Relations between these two countries are so fragile. Establishing direct links would be mutually beneficial."

Dismissing most of the tales one hears of doing business with Pakistan as "folklore", Mr Kumar of Wockhardt adds: "Reality is quite different. Pakistani businessmen are used to lower prices of APIs from China. The API market accessible to Indian companies, outside the segment catered to by multinational companies, may be as small as an estimated Rs 70 crore."

Mr Dara Patel, Secretary General, Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) points out: "It would be a very good synergy if Pakistan opens up trade for finished dosage forms, as people in Pakistan would be able to access drugs at affordable prices and Indian manufacturers would be able to utilise their manufacturing capacities."

IDMA, he said, was in touch with its Pakistani counterpart and both sides want to do business with each other.

Lupin's Mr Gupta is emphatic that times have changed for the better: "During the days of the old enmity, Indian raw materials were routed through Dubai or Europe, after the products' India-label was changed. But now APIs are sent directly to Pakistan. After the Parliament attack, when terrestrial and air links were snapped, we routed our products through Dubai, but this time we did not change our labels. They procure technical know-how and advanced packaging from India and with some political backing, permission could be granted for formulations too."

Having done business with Pakistan for over 10 years, he states for the record: "We love doing business with them and they love doing business with us."

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