The Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) is planning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Japanese pharma industry association with an aim to further improve India’s export trade relations with the Japanese pharma industry.

It is already known that the Japanese markets are one of the toughest markets to enter into due to their stringent regulatory standards. In view of this Pharmexcil, is keen in signing an MoU with the Japanese local industry association to have a constant relationship with the Japanese industry.  Pharmexcil feels that constant interaction with the Japanese local industry association will help the Indian players to understand their market needs and also help to synchronise India's regulatory standards with that of the Japanese. This would help the Indian industry to devise their products in accordance to the Japanese regulatory norms and help improve Indian exports to Japan.

So far only two big companies from India namely Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy’s have managed to make  their entry into the Japanese markets, that too in a very limited scale.  

Recently, Pharmexcil along with Ministry of commerce and industries, had participated in “CPhI-Japan” event. During this visit, India’s major thrust was to promote generics and APIs from India to the Japanese markets and also to encourage the Japanese companies to participate in India.

“In Asia, Japan holds a great potential for India to tap its markets. As Japan is the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world, India needs to pursue its trade relations with Japan to improve its business in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices segments. According to forecasts it is predicted that by 2014 the Japanese market is expected to grow to $87 billion.  Having known this, our government as well as the industry leaders should take all the necessary steps to build a long term trade relationship with Japanese industry,” said Dr  P V Appaji, DG, Pharmexil.

As a part of government of India’s efforts to improve mutual trade between India and Japan, both the countries have signed CEPA agreement. This agreement will provide an excellent opportunity for Indian pharmaceuticals manufacturers and exporters to explore opportunities in Japanese market.

“In the coming next 2-3 months we are inviting 2 leading Japanese journalists as a part of our ‘experience India Programme’. We want the journalists to go see all the infrastructure installations and industrial units and have a first hand experience of our quality standards.  We want to encourage not only our players into the Japanese markets but also want Japan to consider India as a potential sourcing hub,” said Dr Appaji.

“We have also invited officials from Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency of Japan (PMDA)—the Japanese FDA, to visit India and have a first hand experience of our world class manufacturing installations in the country,” added Appaji.

India is providing all facilities both in terms of infrastructure and environmental clearances to encourage Japanese investments in India. They can create their own facilities according to their standards and can utilize the low cost facilities for developing pharmaceutical products. Not just the pharmaceutical products, the Japanese companies can also have the opportunity of exploring the Indian Herbal and health ingredient markets. Government of India is leaving no stone unturned to improve trade relations with Japan especially in the pharma and biotechnology sector.