The recent policy changes and the preferential trade agreement (PTA) with many countries in the Latin American region have opened up huge opportunities for the Indian pharmaceutical exporters, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The PTA will give Indian bulk drugs manufacturers the advantage of nil or low import duty on their exports. This was explained to the participants at the second Indo-Latin American Pharma meet in Hyderabad on Thursday and Friday. The meeting, sponsored by CII, also held a two-day interactive meeting of entrepreneurs from the Latin American countries and India in Mumbai on May 19 and 20.

Representatives of 25 major drug and pharmaceutical companies from Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Praraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela attended the two-day buyer-seller meet in Hyderabad. However, the meeting was a damp squib as the local industry was represented by less than a dozen delegates.

Making a representation on “An Overview of the Latin American Pharmaceutical Market,” Varunesh Tuli, CII's project consultant for the meeting, said that the Indian Government was in the final stages of inking PTAs with Uruguay and Chile. PTAs with countries like Paraguay and Uruguay would give Indian Manufacturers access to bigger economies in the region like Brazil, he said. “While Colombia is the best country to enter, Brazil and Mexico offer best opportunities. There is good scope in Venezuela for business in Ayurvedic and herbal medicines,” Tuli said.

Tuli, however, suggested that the Indian exporters should do their homework properly, studying the rules and regulations each country offers, as several Latin American countries did not allow registration of foreign formulations.

The Latin American pharmaceutical market is currently estimated to be worth $25 billion and is projected to grow further to $ 29 billion by 2005. According to CII (AP) vice-chairman Ramesh Datla, the most important factor in Indo-Latin American trade was that the prices of medicines in the region were 3 to 20 times the cost of medicines in India. As against the per capita drug consumption of $ 3 in India, the figures in Latin American countries stood at $ 115 in Argentina, $50 in Brazil and $ 53 in Chile, he said.

According to Datla, who chaired the introductory presentations, Latin America has emerged as one of the fastest growing export destinations of India with several countries within the region recording substantial growth in GDP in the recent past. The region presents a combined market of 508 million people in 33 countries, 75 per cent of which were urban. The trade between India and Latin America during the last few years had been growing rapidly. It has increased from $473.66 million in 1991-92 to $2,445.44 crore in 2001-02.