Indian Pharma Sector Must Lead In Research And Development, New Molecules, Biotech: Piyush Goyal

(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said that India must build resilient, globally integrated healthcare supply chains, strengthen its position as a trusted healthcare partner of the world and move beyond its success in generics towards greater research, development and innovation.

Addressing the 'Bharat Health Global Expo 2026' here, the minister said India's pharmaceutical sector has a significant opportunity to showcase its capabilities to the world and that the country, known as the“pharmacy of the world”, must aim for a much bigger and better future.

Highlighting the importance of resilience in supply chains, Goyal said that the world is increasingly looking for resilient supply chains and is not comfortable with excessive geographical dependence on one or two locations or with supply chains that could potentially be weaponised.

He noted that India had earlier lost ground in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Key Starting Materials (KSMs) for a variety of reasons and said that it was now time to restore resilience in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Goyal further stated that pooling India's demand would identify several products currently imported where there is potential for indigenous production. He added that countries across the world are now competing to attract investment and build resilience in their supply chains.

The competition for investment is no longer limited to developing countries, with the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Europe and other developed economies also seeking to attract investments to their geographies.

He said that India is, therefore, competing not only in goods and services but also with developed countries in attracting investment, making the task of strengthening India's investment proposition even more important.

Goyal noted that India's success in generics has been built through the active and sustained efforts of the pharmaceutical industry. However, he said India cannot rest its case with generics if it aims to become a developed country by 2047.

India must promote greater R&D, develop and patent its own products, and make use of programmes launched to support R&D and innovation.

He added that the pharmaceutical sector should be at the forefront of R&D and leverage initiatives such as the Research and Development Innovation Fund (RDIF). He called for Indian companies, engineers and talent to focus on new molecules, biosimilars and biotechnology, which he said should become the next frontier for the sector.

On infrastructure, Goyal said the government has been working to develop bulk drug parks, with projects coming up in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, including both old and new parks.

He said that 100 new industrial parks are coming up where dedicated areas can be provided for the pharma and healthcare sector, if required.

On Ayush, Shri Goyal said that it represents India's traditional medicine and traditional wisdom, but India is still exporting raw herbs. He called for greater scientific validation of Ayush products so that they can gain wider acceptance globally, noting that the Government has already been working in this direction.

The minister attended the Expo along with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada, and Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal.

-IANS

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