India’s active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) industry has come a long way since the 1980s when the pharma industry was heavily reliant on API exports from Europe. The domestic consumption market for APIs is expected to have a CAGR of 10% between 2015 and 2022, with the industry expected to reach a size of $18.8 billion by 2022. In 2016, India’s global generic API merchant market share was 7.2%, the third-largest when the last record was taken.
Since then, India’s share has significantly increased as a result of the country becoming a major exporter to all key markets, including China. “Three years ago, India was importing APIs from China and now, Indian companies are exporting to China,” underlined Girish Chovatia, chairman and managing director of Ami Life Sciences – a generic API manufacturer.