Pharma exports to miss $22- billion target

Hyderabad: Pharma exports from India may witness a dip in growth due to ongoing lockdown and also export restrictions imposed on certain drugs, said a top official of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council, a body under the Ministry of Commerce which earlier estimated that exports may cross $22 billion in FY20.

Udaya Bhaskar, Director General of Pharmexcil said pharma exports were pegged at $19.14 billion during the last fiscal. He also said the global situation of coronavirus spread became unpredictable with each country imposing certain tailor-made restrictions.

He said the exports in March 2019 alone stood at $2.1 billion which prompted the exports estimation to be pegged at $22 billion for the FY20. The exports were at $17.28 billion during 2017-18. India restricted exports of paracetamol and hydroxychloroquine, among some other drugs to other countries in view of their perceived role in Covid-19 treatment.

"As far as exports are concerned, since there are several restrictions, we may cross last years figure. Last year we did $19.14 billion worth of pharma exports. By February ending this year we achieved $18.74 billion. Even if there is a big dip in March, the figure may cross last year's mark," the official said.

According to him, India started getting some Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) from China though it is still becoming difficult for the bulk drug to reach its destinations. He said as of now there is no difficulty in getting API imports. The exports' promotion body recently wrote a letter to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) highlighting some of the problems being faced by the exporters with regard to getting the license for Restricted Export Item (Non SCOMET) for the listed products.

The body said member-exporters are having a commitment through Irrevocable Commercial Letter of Credit (ICLC) before the date of imposition of restriction. And there "undue delays in issue of licenses" resulting in huge penalties for delayed supplies, loss of trust and credibility, demurrages for the shipments lying in ports and ultimately making them in a disadvantageous position of losing their valued importers, it told DGFT.