India's drug industry is over Rs one lakh crore

The Indian Pharmaceutical industry has become the third largest in the world in terms of

volume, valued at over Rs one lakh crore, the Parliament was informed today.

"The Indian pharmaceutical industry, now over one lakh crore (US $ 20 billion) industry, has

shown tremendous progress in terms of infrastructure development,technology base creation

and a wide range of products," Minister of State in the Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry

Srikant Kumar Jena said in the Lok Sabha in reply to a written query.

The country now ranks third worldwide by volume and 14th by value thereby accounting for

around 10 per cent of the world's production by volume and 1.5 per cent by value, he added.

"Globally, it ranks fourth in terms of generic production and 17th in terms of export value

of bulk actives and dosage forms," Jena said.

Indian exports pharmaceuticals to more than 200 countries around the globe, including highly

regulated markets of USA, West Europe, Japan and Australia.