Indian Pharma industry has been a world leader in generics both in Indian markets and globally. The coronavirus pandemic which originated in china has led to the partial or full lockdown in many countries. The Indian government also declared complete lockdown in the country. But the impact of this lockdown can be clearly seen in India’s financial markets. Pharmaceutical market in India has also suffered a great impact due to this lockdown. The clarity of impacts can be seen as follows-
An industry operates because of its workers but due to the lockdown workers are unable to go to industries because of non-availability of transportation. If workers are not available how could someone expect a industry to operate? This has created a major problem in the production chain. The production of essential medicines for various diseases such as diabetes, hypertension etc. has decreased manifold which can create severe problems in the nearby future. The good news is that the Pharmaceutical Industries keep a stock which can last for three to four months and so there is no need to worry! It would be the government’s duty to supply these medicines to needy at proper time.
Another important thing for industries to operate is the raw material which is not available presently due to transportation ban. Moreover most of this raw material for the medicines is imported from china which is not available now due to complete sealing of international borders and ban on international as well as local flights. The unavailability of raw material from china has led to a fall in the production of essential antibiotics like penicillin and cephalosporin.
The raw material imported from china is cheap due to its inherent cost advantage as compared to India. China produces cheap raw material due to its economically efficient methods and ease in regulations for bulk drug manufacturers. India is very much dependent on china for the raw material which is not the major concern now but this import of cheap raw material in large quantities from china has destroyed the India’s internal raw material manufacturing industries. Unavailability of raw material has now created a pressure on these already destroyed industries. Some essential medicines can not be prepared now due to complete dependence on china.
Stocks already available in industries cannot be cleared until the lockdown is lifted. This will affect the industry’s capital which will ultimately lead to a cut in the worker’s salary which would not be good for workers as they are already sitting at their home with no salaries. These stocks need to be cleared at any cost and it’s upto the central government what they decide.
A major drug being used to treat coronovirus is Hydroxychloroquine which is an antimalarial drug. India has a large stock for these drugs and is exporting the drug to many countries which are in need. The industries producing these drugs have got a mega boost in their capital which is good for them. So we can say that the effect of coronovirus pandemic lockdown on Pharmaceutical Industries is not much worse in India as compared to other countries.
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