India's medicine, antibiotics exports gaining share in US, Italian markets: Commerce ministry data

With the government focusing on boosting domestic manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, India's medicine and antibiotics exports have started gaining significant market share in the US. According to the commerce ministry data, India is the third largest import source of 'medicine put up for retail sale' for the US.

The top two are Ireland and Switzerland. In 2023, the country exported these medicines worth USD 9 billion as against 7.33 billion in 2022. With this increase in the shipments, India's share went up to 13.1 per cent in 2023 from 10.08 per cent in 2022.

Share of the top exporter Ireland fell to 13.85 per cent in 2023 from 17.18 per cent in 2022 because its sales in the US went down to USD 9.5 billion in 2023 from USD 12.5 billion in 2022. The second biggest exporter Switzerland also saw its share decline to 13.7 per cent last year from 17.4 per cent in 2022.

Similarly, India has increased its share among exporters of antibiotics in the Italian market. It is ranked 10th in that market by increasing its share to 2.12 per cent in 2023 from 0.96 per cent in 2022. In value terms, the country's antibiotics exports to Italy stood at USD 23.34 million in 2023 as against USD 11.48 million in 2022.

Further, the data showed that India's competitiveness is growing in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus market of Germany. In 2023, the country made a small gain by increasing its export share in Germany to 1.7 per cent from 0.45 per cent in 2022.

In value terms, India exported these machines worth USD 13.02 million last year as against USD 2.93 million in 2022. India is the sixth largest exporter of apparatus, whereas the UK is the leader with exports of USD 460 million."Penetrating the EU market is difficult and it is important that we have a base coming in.

These reflect some efforts which are being put in terms of monitoring various markets and various commodities to see where growth can be pushed," an official said. Pharma and medical devices manufacturing is the priority area for the government and these two sectors were the first ones to get a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.