A joint study of India’s 70 small and medium pharmaceutical enterprises conducted by Institute of Management, Bengaluru and University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, a leading European B-School indicate that the industry is on track to align with global standards to increase its overall competitiveness.

Referred to as the Real-time Online Delphi Study, the initiative by the Indian Pharmaceutical Association in collaboration with IIM-B and and University of St. Gallen, was to assess the adoption of operational excellence in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.

The survey on 70 companies confirms that operational excellence has great significance for the Indian pharma industry. However, the industry needed to paint a more solid picture of the most likely developments with regards to  operational excellence.

The key highlights of the study was that India is a developing hub for many new molecules and those companies are exploring to be in the group of new chemical entity innovators, or partnering for growth.

There were ten projections to assess the most likely developments in the Indian pharma industry following which the experts from IIM –B and University of Gallen opined that a high focus is set on operational excellence by the Indian pharma companies. Over the next three years, which is by 2018, over 90 per cent of the Indian domestic pharma companies would strive beyond compliance and aim for real operational excellence.

There are also clear indications that that going by the current efforts of pharma companies, the internal quality systems of more than 90 per cent of the companies are designed to ensure continuous improvement. Indian pharma companies would not be cited by the US FDA for fake data. There would also be a drastic change in the working culture of companies who would look to improve and ensure operational excellence across the organisation.

While operational excellence is understood well by the managements it would be also recognised at the shop floor level as the only way forward for growth. Product quality would replace costs as the main competitive advantage for more than 90 per cent of the Indian domestic pharma companies.

Driven by the need to achieve operational excellence, in 2018, the new product pipeline of the most advanced Indian domestic companies would compete with the pipeline of established western companies in the global markets. During this period the domestic pharma industry would be recognised as a reliable partner by international pharma in terms of product supply on time based on right quality and quantity.

The big plus coming out of the study is that by 2018, global regulatory authorities would not perceive Indian domestic pharma as potential risks of the global pharmaceutical supply chain. The qualification on the shop floor in domestic pharma would be as high as the level in Europe.

According to Kaushik Desai pharma consultant, Hon General Secretary, Indian Pharmaceutical Association and Chairperson, Industrial Pharmacy Section, Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations (FAPA) who coordinated the study, pointed out that a striking aspect of this sector is the robust adoption of high technology in research and manufacture. The sound expertise of its personnel would only lead to operational excellence. Indian pharma industry is quite adaptable and will bounce back with better business strategies.