India's drugs sector set to be worth $55B by 2020, report says

A new report from Assocham and TechSci says India's giant pharma industry is set to get even bigger and may be worth $55 billion by 2020, up from its current $18 billion. The report said that growth will occur despite a slowdown in exports due to tougher regulations in markets such as the United States, Africa and Russia, according to India's Economic Times.

The study said industry consolidation in North America has led to generic makers from India being pressed hard in price negotiations, which could impact year-on-year growth in exports, the ET report added. India is the largest drug supplier to the U.S. with exports of $3.76 billion in 2014.

"Pharmaceutical exports to the U.S. are rising due to the increasing demand for high quality generic drugs in the market. However, the growth rate for exports of pharmaceutical products from India to the U.S. is declining, due to increasing U.S. Food and Drug Administration scrutiny on the quality of pharma products coming from drug manufacturing plants in India," the report said, according to the ET, adding that Indian drugmakers "need to leverage their compliance" with FDA regulations to increase exports.

The report noted that Russian exchange rates are also affecting Indian exports negatively and exports to Africa are being hurt by increasing port delays, "prolonged" valuations by customs officials and the time involved in getting generic drugs approved for various African countries.

- here's the report from the Economic Times