The Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil)'s international buyer-seller meet, organised as part of the 64th IPC in Chennai recently, attracted buyers from 22 countries and more than 40 sellers from across India to initiate potential business deals and to expand their network.

The meeting provided tremendous opportunities for the Indian manufacturers of finished products, APIs and excipients to tap the potential of foreign markets, said Dr P V Appaji, director general of Pharmexcil.

Dinusha Dassanayake, general manager of the Sri Lanka State Pharmaceutical Corporation, who was one of the foreign delegates, said the meet provided a platform to interact with several exporters of India and it helped the Indian small and medium scale manufacturers to present their product portfolios to various importers.

Dr G Sridhar, CEO of National Pharmaceutical Industries in Oman, said the Pharmexcil’s buyer-seller meet generated good responses from the Indian small and medium scale manufacturers who are the suppliers of APIs, excipients, packaging materials and other consumables to various companies.

Markova Olga, sales director of Bio Ritm in Russia;  Blas Adolfo Escobar, general manager of Amicelco, Guatemala in USA; Lakshman R Paidi, President and CEO of AssurGen Pharmaceticals in New York; senior business manager of the China Shanghai Chinopharma Ltd, Steven Liu; Vinay Kabra, marketing manager of Shree Chemicals in Nepal; and Dr Mahamane Sekou, director general of Saphar Pharmaceuticals in Niger in West Africa also expressed similar views.

While expressing thanks to Pharmexcil for organising an international meet in Chennai, Ramesh Heeraman, general manager of Ultra Pharma Marketing Ltd in Trinidad, West Indies, said the company had only one dealer from India till last Month. “Now we have got a lot more suppliers from here. We will expand our business with reliable pharma companies in India,” he added.

Vinay Kabra, marketing manager of Shree Chemicals in Nepal said the Pharmexcil’s initiative helped the Indian pharma manufacturers to interact and establish long term business goals with foreign dealers. The company has five suppliers form India and they import only formulations. According to him 60 per cent of the drugs used in Nepal is imported from India.