Pharma exports to US up 15% in April-Feb FY24

In what can be good news for the pharma industry, pharma exports to the US are surging again this fiscal registering a doubledigit growth, after a lull. Driven by a boost from the US, the total pharmaceuticals exports increased 9.34 per cent at $25.04 billion in AprilFebruary of 202324 compared to $22.90 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

“There has been a significant surge of 15.04 per cent in exports to the US at $7834 million in the AprilFebruary period of the current fiscal against $7547 million in the same period last year,” R Uday Bhaskar, DirectorGeneral, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), told businessline. The export growth rate to the US has more than doubled this year in the period under review as FY23 registered only a 6.18% increase in exports to the US, according to Pharmexcil data.

The spurt in exports to the US could augur well for the Indian pharma industry which has been facing challenges such as increasing pricing pressure as well as regulatory issues. The US market alone accounts for 30 per cent of overall exports for Indian drugmakers.

GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES

“In a way, the surge in exports to the US can also be seen as a strong rebuttal to a notion in some sections that the US importers were looking for alternatives to Indian drugs in key areas such as oncology,” the Pharmexcil DG said. Further, the growth has come in the wake of tumultuous geopolitical situations including the Ukraine and Red Sea crisis.

Going by the current rate of growth, total pharma exports for the full year 202324 could be somewhere between $27.5 billion and $28 billion, per Pharmexcil estimates.