The Pharmaceutical industry in India is the world's third-largest in terms of volume and stands 14th in terms of value. According to Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the total turnover of India's pharmaceuticals industry between 2008 and September 2009 was US$21.04 billion. While the domestic market was worth US$12.26 billion. Sale of all types of medicines in the country is expected to reach around US$19.22 billion by 2012.
Overview of Pharmaceutical Industry
The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry currently tops the chart amongst India 's science-based industries with wide ranging capabilities in the complex field of drug manufacture and technology. The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry ranks very high amongst all third world countries, in terms of technology, quality and the vast range of medicines that are manufactured.
Advantage India
The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, particularly, has been the front runner in a wide range of specialties involving complex drugs' manufacture, development and technology. With the advantage of being a highly organized sector, the pharmaceutical companies in India are growing at the rate of $ 4.5 billion, registering further growth of 8 - 9 % annually. More than 20,000 registered units are fragmented across the country and reports say that 250 leading Indian pharmaceutical companies control 70% of the market share with stark price competition and government price regulations.
In the pharmaceutical industry, Pharmacists perform tasks in various departments/sections:
AREA OF PHARMA INDUSTRY-
The number of purely Indian pharma companies is fairly low. Indian pharma industry is mainly operated as well as controlled by dominant foreign companies having subsidiaries in India due to availability of cheap labour in India at lowest cost. In 2002, over 20,000 registered drug manufacturers in India sold $9 billion worth of formulations and bulk drugs. 85% of these formulations were sold in India while over 60% of the bulk drugs were exported, mostly to the United States and Russia. Most of the players in the market are small-to-medium enterprises; 250 of the largest companies control 70% of the Indian market. Thanks to the 1970 Patent Act, multinationals represent only 35% of the market, down from 70% thirty years ago.
Most pharma companies operating in India, even the multinationals, employ Indians almost exclusively from the lowest ranks to high level management. Mirroring the social structure, firms are very hierarchical. Homegrown pharmaceuticals, like many other businesses in India, are often a mix of public and private enterprise. Although many of these companies are publicly owned, leadership passes from father to son and the founding family holds a majority share.
In terms of the global market, India currently holds a modest 1-2% share, but it has been growing at approximately 10% per year. India gained its foothold on the global scene with its innovatively engineered generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), and it is now seeking to become a major player in outsourced clinical research as well as contract manufacturing and research. There are 74 U.S. FDA-approved manufacturing facilities in India, more than in any other country outside the U.S, and in 2005, almost 20% of all Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) to the FDA are expected to be filed by Indian companies. Growth in other fields notwithstanding, generics is still a large part of the picture. London research company Global Insight estimates that India’s share of the global generics market will have risen from 4% to 33% by 2007. The Indian pharmaceutical industry has become the third largest producer in the world and is poised to grow into an industry of $ 20 billion in 2015 from the current turnover of $ 12 billion.
Top 20 Publicly Listed Life Science companies in India
| Rank | Company | Revenue 2011 (USD millions) | Revenue until 2012 MARCH (USD millions) |
| 1 | Abbott india ltd | 1348.51 | --- |
| 2 | Ranbaxy | 1327.56 | 5,687.33 |
| 3 | Dr. Reddy's Laboratories | 1178 | 5,258.80 |
| 4 | Lupin Ltd | 929.84 | 4,527.12 |
| 5 | Aurobindo Pharma | 865.19 | 4,229.99 |
| 6 | Dabur | 700.3 | --- |
| 7 | Sun Pharmaceutical | 673.99 | 1,985.78 |
| 8 | Cadila Healthcare | 629.45 | 2,213.17 |
| 9 | Jubilant Lifesciences | 561.03 | --- |
| 10 | Piramal Healthcare | 480.26 | |
| 11 | GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd | 475.8 | |
| 12 | Ipca Laboratories | 390 | |
| 13 | Wockhardt | 381.23 | |
| 14 | Torrent Pharmaceuticals | 380.2 | |
| 15 | Sterling Bio | 358.1 | |
| 16 | Biocon | 340.38 | |
| 17 | Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited | 320.62 | |
| 18 | Alembic | 270.62 | |
| 19 | Aventis Pharma | 263.85 | |
| 20 | Glenmark Pharmaceuticals | 260.14 |
Even after the increased investment, market leaders such as Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories spent only 5-10% of their revenues on R&D, lagging behind Western pharmaceuticals like Pfizer, whose research budget last year was greater than the combined revenues of the entire Indian pharmaceutical industry. This disparity is too great to be explained by cost differentials, and it comes when advances in genomics have made research equipment more expensive than ever. The drug discovery process is further hindered by a dearth of qualified molecular biologists. Due to the disconnect between curriculum and industry, pharmas in India also lack the academic collaboration that is crucial to drug development in the West and so far.