Both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are grounding their feet stronger and stronger to take the present status of pharmaceutical industry sector to the next level of growth in the country. Though at present the Andhra Pradesh government is far behind to catch up with its counterpart Telangana state in terms of having a strong pharmaceutical base, the long term policy initiative taken by AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is going to bear fruits in the near future and is expected to give tough competition to its already industrially sound Telangana state in the next coming decade.
While on the other hand, Telangana state which is already having a well established pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare base, is not sitting idle. It has revamped its industrial policy and has emerged as one of the top Indian states in enabling ease of doing business with its new TS-iPass initiative. Even while having a stronger pharmaceutical industrial base, the state government is moving proactive and taking the industry leaders into confidence to bring out a concrete industrial policy. Particularly with regard to pharma industry, the Telangana State government had rolled out the proposal to establish a new Pharma City over an area of 15,000 areas on the outskirts of Hyderabad at Mucherla village.
Apart from this, both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have invited investors to invest in setting up of medical devices manufacturing parks and attracted other related industries to explore the possibilities of setting up their factories in the state. “After bifurcation, given the current situation, Telangana is far ahead in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, while Andhra Pradesh, except the Jawaharlal Pharma City and few industries here and there, has no bigger pharmaceutical base elsewhere in the state.
However, the state government of AP has proposed to set up pharma clusters in different parts of the state, but again it is expected to take at least a decade to come to the level of Telangana. But once that is achieved then there will be no looking back for AP,” says S V Krishna Prasad, managing director and CEO of Cito Healthcare.
According to Industry experts, both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states are already a hot investment destination for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and have emerged as the leading pharma exporters in the country. Hyderabad which is at present united capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is already known as India’s leading bulk drug hub. The two states contributed more than 30 per cent of India’s total pharma exports. For the year 2014-15, the pharmaceutical exports from AP and TS have crossed more than Rs. 33,000 crore.
According to Dr P V Appaji former Director General of Pharmexcil, the pharmaceutical exports in India have been growing at a rate of 17 per cent in rupee terms and around 10 per cent in dollar terms during the current fiscal. “Last year our total exports stood at Rs. 94,275 crore, while this year we have crossed more than Rs. 1.12 lakh crore. In fact this is a big achievement for Indian pharma as we have crossed this mark for the first time,” informed Appaji.
Moreover, with the change in FDI policy, more foreign investors will be attracted to invest in this sector and help in the areas of research and development. With both the state governments encouraging the industries with proactive policies, it is expected that both the states will emerge as leading hubs for R&D and will continue to lead in pharmaceutical exports.
As per Pharmexcil report, last year pharmaceutical exports from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh already reached around Rs. 33,000 crore. This figure may cross Rs. 40,000 crore when the Council finalizes the entire data for the period.
The pharmaceutical industry had done well last year despite some actions by the US health regulator, US FDA, as the Central government extended support to the sector and took up issues related to it seriously. Support from the Union commerce ministry and Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) helped the industry to post healthy growth in last one year. Also, Indian government has maintained good relations with the US government, thereby helping the sector. “Pharmexcil has also taken up regulatory issues vigorously and cleared hurdles. In spite of challenges, the pharma sector will definitely see a positive growth,” observed Appaji, former DG of the Council.
After the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, given the negativity of Telangana agitation prior to 2014 and the intense power shortage faced by the pharma industry, everyone had expected that all is over for pharma sector in Telangana and majority of the industry members had already decided to shift their bases to Andhra Pradesh. But soon after formation of Telangana, the Telangana government led by Chief Minister K C R had surprisingly came forward proactively and engaged the industry leaders to help him draft a concrete industrial policy. This instilled confidence in the minds of the industrialists and they continued to stay in Hyderabad making the state more prosperous.
According Jayanth Tagore, president of Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (India), the main reason for pharmaceutical industry to flourish in Hyderabad and not deciding to shift to any other place is because of the ideal location of Hyderabad and its favorable environment (neither too hot nor too cold) for setting up of industries. “Hyderabad, joint capital of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh, is the sixth largest urban agglomeration of India. The city enjoys the advantage of its location and connects to all major cities in India through rail, road and air. Unless and until the industry faces any catastrophic situation, as long as the governments are favorable and people are supportive, pharmaceutical sector in Hyderabad is bound to continuously grow,” observed the BDMA president.
According to industry analysts, Hyderabad is the best destination to set up any kind of industries as the city is well connected to not only leading cities with in India, but also with international destinations. The Hyderabad International Airport (Rajiv Gandhi International Airport) provides connectivity to major international destinations. Hyderabad is ranked 3rd amongst top 20 cities in the world to become ‘Global Mega Hub’ by 2020.
This is the only Indian city which figures in the top 10 large cities in the world considered as the ‘Most Sustainable Cities by 2020’. The economic growth drivers of the city are knowledge based industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, IT and ITES.
The city houses several multinational life sciences giants like United States Pharmacopeia (USP), DuPont, Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI), Nektar Therapeutics, Sanofi Aventis, Aptuit-Laurus etc. as well as home grown companies such as Dr Reddy’s, Aurobindo Pharma, Bharat Biotech etc. Several world renowned academic and research institutes and universities are based in Hyderabad, thus creating a vast pool of talent. It has a large number of super specialty hospitals well equipped for clinical trials of international standards, making it the ‘Health Capital of India’.