Karnataka Drugs & Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (KDPMA) is now looking to augment its business prospects in the area of exports, contract manufacture and product development.

“We are now maximizing our high quality pharma manufacturing capability to tap the international opportunities. The state is seen as a preferred destination for the pharma sector,” Jatish N Seth, president, KDPMA and director, Srushti Pharmaceuticals told Pharmabiz.

The state’s pharma industry is now looking for innovative drug development, tap small niche promising markets to drive export opportunities and bag contract manufacturing orders. Its success in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients(APIs) and branded formulations is expected to give an edge to woo investors to pump in funding for bulk drug plants, excipients and dedicated pharma packaging units, said Sunil Attavar, secretary, KDPMA and managing director, Group Pharmaceuticals.

According to Harish K Jain, treasurer, KDPMA and director, Embiotic Laboratories (P) Ltd., the state is home to producing 5 of the top 10 brands and bag 7 out of the top 10 leading global majors outsourcing opportunity. Its units are recognized for high quality adherence practices and therefore we need make a difference in the bagging domestic and export orders.

The big advantage for the investors is the 120 pharmacy colleges in the state which produces ready access to qualified human resources. Ninety percent of the state’s 240 units are in the small and medium segment are reported to account 25 percent attrition. However it is easy to fill up the posts driven by access to pharmacy graduates and post graduates, noted KDPMA members.

Karnataka was the first state to come out with the dedicated Pharmaceutical Policy in March 2013, but now the state government recently unveiled the industrial policy with similar incentives. However, KDPMA is hopeful that its pharmaceutical policy will see the light of the day. The sector has also been looking for land for a Pharma Park that would provide an industrial cluster-concept to solve its issues of pollution control, power and water crisis among others.

Indian pharma turnover is pegged at Rs. 1.30 lakh crore of which Rs. 80,000 crore is generated from the domestic sales and the remaining Rs. 50,000 from exports earnings. In Karnataka, pharma revenues are at Rs. 12,500 crore which is 9 per cent of the national turnover. The exports earnings are Rs. 5,200 crore. The sector generates 25,000 direct employment. However the upstream and downstream processes in API and packaging offer every 1 out of 2 persons indirect job openings. In terms of revenues, Gujarat accounts for 33 percent of the total Rs. 1.30 lakh crore followed by Himachal, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The issues of drug price cuts effected by the NPPA which have been unviable and putting up with the acute shortage of quality power have proved the inherent strengths of the state pharma’s survival in tough and challenging environments, stated KDPMA.