New Delhi : The pharmaceutical exports from the country have seen a growth of 3.25% per cent at $25.39 billion during the year 2022-23, as compared to $24.59 billion in the previous fiscal year.
The exports during the year, however, have registered a higher percentage of growth compared to the less than one per cent growth in the previous fiscal year.
For the month of March, the Indian pharma firms exported $2.48 billion as compared to $2.38 billion exports reported in the same month of last year, registering a growth of 4.19 per cent during the compareable period.
It may be noted that the government has earlier fixed a target of $27.4 billion of pharmaceuticals exports for the fiscal year 2022-23 even though the global market has various challenges which has an impact on the exports. The government is targeting a 11 per cent growth during the fiscal year 2022-23, from a commendable growth in the exports at $24.4 billion achieved during the fiscal year 2021-22.
On the other hand, the imports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products during the fiscal year 2012-23 registered a decline of 10.58 per cent, at $8.11 billion as compared to $9.07 billion in the previous fiscal year.
During the month of March, 2023, the pharma imports was at $706.02 million as compared to $792.44 million in the same month of last year.
The Economic Survey 2022-23, released ahead of the Union Budget 2023, has said that the pharma exports have performed well to report growth in the recent past despite the global trade disruptions and drop in demand for Covid-19-related treatments.
The pharma exports grew despite Covid-19 impacted disruptions in supply chain increasing significantly from $15.4 billion in FY15 to $24.6 billion in FY22 and stood at $18.8 billion during April to December 2022, registering a positive growth of 3.6 per cent over April- December 2021, said the Economic Survey.
“Indian pharmaceutical exports achieved a healthy growth of 24 per cent in FY21, driven by Covid-19-induced demand for critical drugs and other supplies made to over 150 countries. The performance of pharma exports in FY22 has been robust, sustaining growth despite the global trade disruptions and drop in demand for Covid-19-related treatments. Carrying forward this growth momentum, drug and pharmaceutical exports during April-October 2022 was 22 per cent higher than the corresponding pre-pandemic period of FY20,” said the Economic Survey.
The high growth in export in the recent past was on account of the stocking of inventories of medicines by countries all over the world, and increased demand for vaccines and medicines related to the Covid-19 pandemic which India was in a position to provide, it added.
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