With the government focusing on boosting domestic manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, India has become the third largest import source of medicine put up for retail sale in the United States (US), following Ireland and Switzerland.

According to a PTI report citing Ministry of Commerce data, India's medicine exports grew to USD 9 billion in 2023 from USD 7.33 billion in 2022.

The report said that Ireland, the world’s largest exporter, fell to 13.85 per cent in 2023 from 17.18 percent in 2022 as its sales in the US went down to USD 9.5 billion in 2023 from USD 12.5 billion in 2022.

Switzerland the second biggest exporter, also declined to 13.7 percent last year from 17.4 per cent in 2022.

Additionally, India's share of antibiotics exports has increased in the Italian market. India ranks 10th in the market by increasing its share to 2.12 percent in 2023 from 0.96 percent in 2022.

India’s antibiotics exports to Italy stood at USD 23.34 million in 2023 from USD 11.48 million in 2022.

According to the report, India's market share is growing in Germany's Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus market.

In 2023, India’s export share in Germany rose to 1.7 percent from 0.45 percent in 2022

In value terms, India exported these MRI machines worth USD 13.02 million last year as against USD 2.93 million in 2022

India is the sixth largest exporter of MRI apparatus, whereas the UK is the largest exporter, with USD 460 million in exports.

Pharma and medical device manufacturing are the government's priority areas, and they were the initial sectors to receive a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Simran Sethi/MSM)