Global technology transfers are expected to give a major fillip to Indian pharma machinery and packaging sectors. This follows, the country’s dexterity in drug production . This has made India a focal point for machinery manufacturers. Giving an impetus to the existing capability is the Union government’s Make in India and the Innovate in India projects which are expected to stimulate technology transfers from global machinery majors to further advance the indigenisation efforts of the country, according industry observers.
With new and stringent global regulations being enforced, there are visible changes in the pharma machinery manufacturing landscape. The key focus is not just an alluring and convenient design but on environmental friendly solutions. In a phase of advanced manufacturing driven by big data analytics and intelligent systems, novel process with green solutions are expected to transform the industry.
There is a profusion of new machine design concepts embedded with software that could track every processes at every point. Machines operate at high speed with sensors and do not require any human interference. As Indian pharma companies import all these machines, seeing the huge opportunities in the country for drug manufacturing, global machinery majors are keen to invest in India, said industry experts.
According to Bhagwati Machinery Company , “Machines are tailor-made meeting requirements of the pharma industry. Every pharmaceutical company has its own system of procedures for manufacturing and maintenance of its machines, as an effort to meet the latest good manufacturing practice (GMP) compliance. Keeping with this line, the drug manufacturers would want the machinery manufacturer to follow a set of procedures with proper documentation in the manufacturing. Most of the time, it is the pharma manufacturer, who educates the machinery manufacturer on the latest methods of machinery and the upgradation as per WHO GMP norms.”
The expertise of in-house production, plant expansion together with contract manufacturing opportunities will help machinery manufacturers to succeed, noted industry experts.
For instance, the German industrial technology major Bosch has set a plant in Goa to cater to the needs of pharma machinery. According to the company, it has expertise as the world leader in sterile applications with over 10,000 plants installed around the word for liquid formulations. It delivers machines in compliance with relevant international standards backed by documentation and validation to help the pharma industry commence production at a faster pace.
Progress of pharma machinery in India
During the 60s and 70s the pharmaceutical industry imported machines mostly from Europe for their processing and packaging needs. But the mid-70s saw the country going through a severe shortage of foreign exchange and therefore the Indian government introduced high import duties and restrictive import licensing policies. This forced all the pharmaceutical companies to encourage some Indian engineering enterprises to manufacture machines locally. This was perhaps the only route for the pharmaceutical industry to enhance production and cater to the growing demands of the domestic market.
The most significant aspect of the Indian pharmaceutical industry is that at the time of Independence the foreign manufacturers had stranglehold on the market .But today the Indian manufacturers have turned the tables with the market share close to 75 per cent. In fact, India is now the fifth largest producer of drugs and pharmaceutical after USA, Japan, Europe and China.
The growth of technology upgradation for machinery has been fast in India. With almost low technology offerings in the initial stage, the Indian machinery today is considered as one that can offer value - added engineering with integration of new technologies. Various international companies found it cost -effective to work with Indian partners in the form collaborative ventures. The number of joint ventures between foreign and Indian machinery manufacturers is a testimony to the fact that the Indian machinery makers understands the stringent need of pharmaceutical industry and that it can produce international quality at affordable prices.
An increasing number of foreign pharmaceutical-machine manufacturers also have recognized India's achievements and evolution in the industry.
Indian machines are manufactured and used in accordance with international standards and do not hazard the inspection and approval of their facility. This is one of the many reasons that India has the most FDA- approved facilities in the world. It is significant to note that India and China are making machinery which are 10-20 times less expensive than that of those made in the US and Europe.
Currently, the country is known for its range of pharma machinery to deal with bottle filling, roll compactors, tablet presses, ointment tubes, injection moulding machines, capsule filling machines, planetary mixer manufacturers, vial filling machines and capsule counting machines. But there is a void when it comes to state-of-the-art machinery which is imported from Europe and South East Asia.
There is also a huge presence of imported pharma machinery dealers sourcing equipment from Europe, China, Taiwan and South Korea. This clearly indicates the demand for advanced systems in the Indian pharma machinery space, said companies like Hari Engineering and Servel Instruments.
India has the ability to move towards advanced technological machine development for the pharma industry because the country is known to have the third largest pool of technical manpower.
Emerging concepts
India’s packaging machinery industry has the technological expertise and the business acumen to cater to the versatile requirements of its pharma sector.
With the Make in India and Innovate in India programme, the sector is expected to see a number of mergers and acquisitions. It could woo many global manufacturers to design and develop machines in India owing to the access to trained manpower. There would be technology tie-ups and transfer of technology between leading players from Europe to support Indian pharma machinery manufacturers.
The global machine vision market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.51 per cent from 2014 to 2020. It holds a great potential across the automation industry. Machine vision systems are used in many applications to provide more accuracy in the manufacturing procedures and for proper inspection in detecting flaws. The major transformation on the machinery front is the infusion on information technology to man these machines. The futuristic machines are ‘guided tools’ to detect instant errors and mishaps. In addition, information technology has revolutionized productivity, increased efficiency enabling to achieve higher profits driven by industrial automation.
Key issues hampering growth
The main problem is the low investment in the area of pharma machinery research. The market is unorganized and lacks focus with a large presence of the small and medium machinery manufacturers. Although labour is inexpensive, it is extremely difficult to hire personnel. The issue of remuneration for pharma machinery employees is also impacting the sector.
Since 2008, the global slowdown to an extend has impacted Indian pharma machinery manufacturers. The lack of investments on new projects and inability to expand has been a serious deterrent to growth, according to industry experts.