India has potential to be the 6th largest pharma market by 2020: Suresh Prabhu

New Delhi: In his speech at the annual summit organized by the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Suresh Parbhu has expressed confidence that India would emerge among the top pharma markets globally by the year 2020.

Mr Prabhu said that India is likely to be among the top three pharmaceutical markets by incremental growth and sixth largest market in absolute size during next 2-3 years.

“Increase in size of middle class households, alongwith the improvements in the medical infrastructure in the country will influence the growth of the sector,” he said adding that “the pharma industry will play a key role in making India a five trillion dollar economy.”

The Minister also emphasized on the role of India as a destination for genomics research and their application. At the same time, he also called for a balance between growth and consumer interests.

Mr Prabhu also talked about the opportunities for Indian pharma sector in Africa and and Latin American Countries. He said that Indian has a potential to become a top place for holistic healthcare sector.

The Indian pharma market has witnessed growth a compound growth rate of 5.64 percent during 2011-2016. The market grew from being 20.95 billion US$ in 2011 to 27.57 billion US$ in 2016. As per estimates, the industry revenues have grown by 7.4 percent during 2017.