The CPhI India, the largest and most comprehensive pharmaceutical industry event in South Asia, was inaugurated here today by Rajeev Kher, additional secretary, ministry of commerce and industry.
Inaugurating this three-day unique pharma trade fair, Kher made a strategic announcement that the drug controller general of India (DCGI) will act as the competent authority to issue quality certificate to the EU on falsified medicines.
“Indian pharma exports are headed for a very healthy growth in generic and API exports and efforts are on to improve the foothold of traditional medicine exports. Pharma exports by the end of 2014-15 are expected to reach US$ 25 billion. The Indian pharma industry is also covering a lot of ground in bio-pharmaceuticals at a rapid pace. Generic market segment is increasing worldwide faster than branded drug segment. The market size of drugs losing patent protection was US$ 270 billion in 2011 and is expected to go upto US$ 430 billion by 2016. It is but natural to view Indian pharma industry among the top in the next decade,” Kher said.
He further said that the domestic industry is gearing up in a big way, with more and more people likely to be covered by various health benefit policies, be it insurance and with facilities offered by healthcare industry matching the best in the world.
About improving the competitiveness, he said, “India has largest pool of talented and trained personnel in the industry and is also backed with the lowest cost of operations. This along with positive policies facilitating growth would prepare the industry to meet future challenges. Industry is expected to make good of opportunities like contract research and contract manufacturing, and opening up of generic market opportunities in many countries such as Japan, Spain, China, CIS, etc.”
During his inaugural speech, he along with Dr P V Appaji, director general, Pharmexcil assured the industry that the government will be providing all kinds of support, be it financial or regulatory, to the Indian companies to expand their base in the foreign market. Dr Appaji informed that in the coming years measures will be taken with full government support to ensure market exposure to the interested Indian manufacturers to access important market across the globe like Russia, Spain, Middle East, ASEAN and other top European market as well.
Interestingly, 110 exhibitors from around 88 Indian pharma companies from across the country participated in this event through the Indian Pavilion supported by the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil). Dr Appaji, further informed that compared to the past years, there had been more enquiry and interest shown by the industry to participate at the CPhI. “We are very happy with the tremendous response that we have received from the exhibitors and visitors alike till now showing that we have been successful in showcasing and exhibiting our export potential to the world. This year we have seen participation from lot of companies ranging from the small scale, medium enterprise to large scale companies participating through the India Pavillion.”
Unlike past years, this year this event will also host its first edition of CPhI India Pharma Awards 2012 to recognise the great contribution of the industry veterans in this segment. There will be seven broad categories identified for the awards including innovation in quality, product development, cost, environment, health and safety (EHS), packaging together with lifetime achievement and pharma personality of the year award.
Around 926 exhibitors from 21 countries are recorded to have participated in this event from across the world which will also be a platform to other wide spectrum of events like P-MEC, ICSE and Bio-Ph India along with the CPhI under the same roof. The event runs from November 21 to 23, providing an efficient platform for global pharmaceutical buyers to identify business opportunities and meet potential partners.