India sees sizeable improvement in finished dosage reputation and growth ahead of CPhI India 2021

CPhI & P-mec India – organised by Informa Markets – is set to welcome attendees and exhibitors from around the world, both online and in-person, as new CPhI analysis points to sustained pharma growth in India, with an improving outlook for finished dosage, API and biologics.

The India-specific findings of the CPhI Annual Report survey conducted among 350 executives point to a significant jump in the country’s global reputation with India widely perceived to be benefitting from post-pandemic macro-economic and supply chain changes.

The 14th Annual CPhI & P-mec India will run in a hybrid form, with an online conference and networking from 15-30 November alongside an in-person event in New Delhi from 24-26 November.

“There is a tremendous need for new manufacturing partners and as shown in the report – Indian manufacturers, in particular, are in high demand. By delivering a hybrid event and offering a platform where international and national buyers and suppliers can profile themselves, we are facilitating a greater opportunity for future partnerships,” commented Silvia Forroova, Brand Director, Informa.

India’s single biggest metric improvement in the CPhI data was in the perceived quality of ‘finished dose manufacturing,’ where the country surged 13 per cent in year, adding to the four per cent rise in 2020, while it also jointly topped the prestigious ‘growth potential’ category with the US for the first time.

In fact, across all Indian manufacturing, there has been tremendous growth in the last year.

Sriram Shrinivasan, Consulting CHS Leader, Ernst & Young India, commented, “Indian contract manufacturing exported goods worth around $10 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $27-28 billion by 2026, which equates to a fantastic 18-20 per cent CAGR during this period. Also, there is a lot more focus on outsourcing, resourcing and manufacturing into India. This trend is fuelled by India’s reputation for quality, infrastructure, growing innovation ecosystem and its skilled workforce – one of the largest pool of STEM graduates globally.”

India also saw its reputation for API manufacturing improve by seven per cent year-on-year. Emphasising this shift in perspectives, in 2021, there has been a five-fold increase in private equity investments [totalling $1.5billion] into API companies across the country. In fact, to help attendees explore this burgeoning sector further, the second day of CPhI & P-mec India’s online conference will feature a live panel discussion on API & Next Gen Labs. The session will offer foresight into the emerging possibilities for automation and robotics in pharmaceutical manufacturing as well as evaluating the complexity of the global API supply chain.

In another boon to Indian manufacturing, the country showed the largest gains in terms of ‘growth potential for biologics manufacturing’ of any country – including traditional biologics powerhouses France, the US, Singapore and the UK – perhaps helped by the Serum Institute of India’s well-documented supply of COVID vaccines. Highlighting this issue’s current prominence in India, a panel of experts, moderated by Duncan Emerton, Executive Director, Custom Intelligence and Analytics, Informa Pharma Intelligence, will also explore the opportunities and challenges for biologics and biosimilars.

To enhance networking and deal-making at the event, the online event platform will open more than a week before the beginning of the in-person event, empowering the industry to maximise the value they get from the in-person CPhI & P-mec India. This enables companies to identify more partners in advance and pre-qualify their leads. The online platform will also play host to some 30 sessions spanning four tracks – Drug Development and Delivery, API & Next Gen Labs, Biosimilars & mAbs and Digitization. Running alongside the event is India Pharma week which will host the ‘Women in Pharma’ roundtable as well as the eighth annual India Pharma Awards.

Forroova added, “It is such an exciting time with a multitude of new opportunities emerging out of India, which is why we are really looking forward to hosting the hybrid CPhI & P-mec India. With so many opportunities to network over the course of the fortnight, I would encourage everyone to take advantage of the online platform to not only set up virtual meetings, but to also pre-qualify leads ahead of the in-person event.”