Indian Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (or API) Industry – An Overview – Investing.com India

Indian Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (or API) Industry – An Overview – Investing.com India

According to World Health Organization, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (or API) is any substance or combination of substances used in a finished pharmaceutical product (or FPP) intended to furnish pharmacological activity or to otherwise have direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, or to have an immediate impact in restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions in human beings.

Presently, India imports around 68% of API in value terms from China – the most significant player worldwide. The latter is also a sole seller for many of the critical intermediaries and APIs. These include cardiovascular diseases (Digoxin and Losartan), diabetes (Metformin and Glimepiride), and tuberculosis (Isoniazid and Streptomycin). High dependency of intermediates and APIs on China is a cause of concern from India's health security perspective. Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the supply of Key Starting Material (or KSM), intermediates, and APIs, and it resulted in supply chain disruptions and ultimately increased the cost of India's imports. As a result, the Government of India has plans to revive the inactive API manufacturing industry to reduce over-dependence on China.

The Indian API Industry

Although the Indian API industry has grown well in the past, it needs to come out of its shell. The