China preferred over India in drug making

"Nearly 90 per cent of pharmaceutical executives consider China a better choice than India for low-cost drug manufacturing," Bain & Co said in its study. Furthermore, only 17 per cent of the survey's respondents cited innovation as a key asset of Indian drug makers, it said. As many as 179 international executives with headquarters in North America, Europe and Asia, besides India sampled by Bain expressed concerns about the regulatory situation in the sub-continent nation. As many as 52 per cent of the respondents cited intellectual property protection as a concern, while another 52 per cent said parallel trade or grey market imports was an issue, with another 42 per cent expressing concerns over the regulatory uncertainty affecting the Indian industry. "The Indian pharmaceutical industry now stands at the crossroads," Bain & Co India Managing Director Ashish Singh said. If India is looking to be the home for quality generic drugs, it needs to step up its innovation game, he added. The Bain & Co study, however, said despite current concerns with India's pharmaceutical industry, international executives increasingly expect greater collaboration here in the future. While only 38 per cent of the respondents now consider doing business in India to be 'extremely important', 62 per cent said the country would become a key market five years from now. Similarly, 35 per cent characterised India as an 'attractive' market in 2006 (as a domestic market for drug purchase and consumption), while 58 per cent expect it will be 'attractive' by 2011, the study added. Six out of 10 respondents believe that Indian pharma companies will improve their capabilities through the end of the decade in such areas as risk-sharing, product depth, increased scale and expanded expertise, it added. The global consulting firm said if the Indian pharmaceutical sector were to move up the value chain, the domestic companies would have to strive for low cost leadership in their core generic drug businesses through a rigorous focus on operating efficiency, and begin to invest in innovation. It also said the government would have to create the right investment climate for both multinational corporations (MNCs) and Indian companies by addressing key concerns over intellectual property protection, parallel trade and regulatory uncertainty. Bain, however, said MNCs would be best advised to start investing now to take advantage of the Indian domestic market as well as capabilities that the country offers, "but do it in a measured way while pressing for regulatory reforms". "Source":[ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1849397.cms]

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