Long delayed formation of Pharmexcil, an exclusive export promotion council for drugs and pharmaceuticals is a reality now. Last week, Dr Venkat Appaji from NPPA took charge as its first executive director in Hyderabad. But confusion amongst the members exporting drugs and pharmaceuticals is not fully cleared. The clarification issued by the Union commerce ministry in this regard does not make things very clear. The ministry note says that since Pharmexcil was set up for giving focused attention to drugs and pharma sector, "it is appropriate that the pharma members are primarily served by Pharmexcil while leaving the choice on members to take membership of any other council as well". The clarification further says that the matter of membership be decided mutually by CHEMEXCIL and Pharmexcil. A clear stand from commerce ministry is necessary in this matter, as CHEMEXCIL had challenged the commerce ministry's decision to approve Pharmexcil in the first place. As it is, CHEMEXCIL still claims a membership of over 2000 exporters of drugs and pharmaceuticals with it whereas Pharmexcil has about 250. A situation like this can certainly cause a feeling of uncertainty amongst large number of small and medium scale exporters.

The move to form the Pharmexcil was initiated by some of the Mumbai-based pharmaceutical exporters in 2002 but they could not make much progress as they faced quite a bit of opposition from CHEMEXCIL. There is no doubt that drugs and pharmaceuticals emerged as the biggest segment of CHEMEXCIL over the years. During the year 2002-03, India's export of drugs and pharmaceuticals crossed Rs 12,000 crore and in 2003-04 it touched Rs 15,000 crore. With an increasing number of internationally accepted manufacturing facilities in India, both API and generic exports from India are expected to grow much faster in the coming years. An important section of pharmaceutical exporters has not been very happy with CHEMEXCIL for some time as they believed that they have not been getting adequate promotional support in key overseas markets despite their outstanding performances. Those who are going to run Pharmexcil now have a major responsibility on their shoulders. First and foremost task will be to re project and maintain India's image as quality supplier of drugs and pharmaceuticals. Many adverse reports have been circulating about the quality of Indian pharmaceuticals in developed markets spread by certain vested interests. These have not been adequately countered by India as yet. While a number of these reports are motivated, there were cases of substandard products going out of India to the US and European markets. As far as large exporters are concerned, possibilities of shipping poor quality products are very little. The new Council has to therefore keep a close watch on small exporters. Development of new markets like Japan and the CIS countries is another major challenge for Pharmexcil. India's current pharmaceuticals exports to these destinations are just negligible.