The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat pharma industry centenary celebrations on Jan 5

Gujarat's pharmaceutical industry, which led the way with indigenous production of medicines and the march towards self-sufficiency in drugs and pharmaceuticals in a newly-independent India, completes its centenary this year. To commemorate this milestone the State's pharmaceutical companies, allied industries, industry associations and academia will converge here on January 5.

While Bengal Chemicals, now closed, was the first modern pharmaceutical company in India, the Vadodarabased Alembic Ltd, the second, celebrated its centenary a couple of months ago, Mr Pankaj Patel, Chairman-cum- Managing Director, Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Cadila), told presspersons here on Thursday.

The centenary celebrations, marked by different programmes, will encapsulate the past, present and future of the industry, its growth and achievements. It will showcase the pioneering initiatives of Gujarat's pharma industry over the years which have helped it to emerge as a national leader in the field of drugs and pharmaceuticals.

The State was the first to manufacture APIs and finished dosage form in India, manufacture pharmaceutical machinery, lead the way with clinical research organisations and become the first to undertake pre-clinical safety and toxicology studies in the country.

It will also include an official release of a centenary publication, felicitation ceremony of the stalwarts who contributed to the evolution and growth of the pharmaceutical industry in the state and a presentation on the Pharma Vision 2020. A CEOs' panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead will also set the tone for a futuristic look as Gujarat's pharma industry positions itself as a global pharma hub, he said.

Its potent combination of pioneering vision, entrepreneurial spirit, sound infrastructure and the ability to adapt to the changing times have helped shape Gujarat as a pharma hub. From its beginnings in 1907 when Alembic was set up in the then princely state of Baroda, the state today serves as the corporate headquarters and a manufacturing base for several leading Indian pharmaceutical companies and multinationals.

MANUFACTURING CLUSTERS

Gujarat has four pharma manufacturing clusters at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Ankleshwar and Bharuch-Vapi-Valsad belt. The State contributes 40 per cent of the country's pharmaceutical production, 30 per cent of its drug exports and 20 per cent of its chemicals output. The industry has more than 3,000 registered manufacturers, a strong backbone of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), capital investments in excess of $5 billion, an annual turnover of more than $2.55 billion, more than 2,00,000 employees and more than 4,000 skilled personnel.

OUTSOURCING

With globalisation, the global pharma outsourcing market is set to touch the $53- billion mark by 2010 and the centre of gravity of the global pharma market would shift to India. The R&D outsourcing is expected to become a $600 million market in India by 2010 and the country's pharma market would triple by 2015, between $16 and 24 billion.

R&D SPEND

India's R&D spend in this sector is set to go up from the existing 8 per cent of turnover to 12 per cent. "Unlike in the past, drugs would now be invented in India and exported worldwide," Mr Patel said.

Indian pharma industry is growing at a 25 per cent annual rate, while exports are increasing at 40 per cent per annum.

After the US, Europe and Japan, which control's 90 per cent of the $600 billion global industry, India is the fourth largest producer with $6 billion. The US alone accounts for $250 billion worth of pharma production annually. Gujarat's pharma companies' turnover is around Rs 12,000- 14,000 crore per annum, one third of which accounts for exports. China was way behind India, by seven to eight years, Mr Patel said.

Asked about reasons behind the pharma shift from the West to Asia, he said many a global companies are now facing different problems and forced to network with Indian companies. This was making a paradigm shift in traditional pharma industry.

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