Pharmaceutical industry UPSC| Industry | geography of India

Table of Contents:

• What is the Pharmaceutical Industry?
• Raw Materials for Pharmaceutical Industries:
• Locational Factors for the Pharmaceutical Industry
• Distribution of Pharmaceutical Industries and Government policy in India
• India's current status in the Pharmaceutical industry
• Challenges to the pharmaceutical industry

What is the Pharmaceutical Industry?

• The pharmaceutical Industries do research on Pharmaceutical drugs and discover the processes and formulas for making the medicine and vaccines.
• So actually the pharmaceutical industries are the backbone of the health sectors.

For Example,

Paracetamol Formula; C8H9NO2; 

discovery of formula and production of medicinal drugs are done by the pharmaceutical Industry

Raw Materials for Pharmaceutical Industries:

• Raw materials in the pharmaceutical industry are called Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients ( API).
• Plastic
• Glass
• Other Packaging inputs

Locational Factors for the Pharmaceutical Industry:

Pharmaceutical Industry is a footloose industry hence it does not require specific local resources. However, the following location factors are suitable for Pharmaceutical Industries in India;

• Accessibility to raw materials:
• India Import 70 % of API from China, near to port location would provide easy accessibility.
• Proximity to potential Market;
• Near port will ideal for export purposes.
• Skill Labour;
• The city and the mild climate attract skilled labor and are also suitable for pharmaceutical Industries.
• Government Policy

Distribution of Pharmaceutical Industries and Government policy in India

Major Pharmaceutical Industries are located in Southern states except Kerala for the above suitability. Some major pharmaceutical industries are also located in Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh with favorable government policies and incentives.

India patent Act1970:

• Legalized the copying of drugs molecules whereas copying of drugs making process remained illegal.
• 100% FDI on Greenfield pharmaceutical industry.

The above two decisions made India a Pharmacy of the world and now going to "Global research Hub".

India's current status in the Pharmaceutical industry:

The following are status:

• India is the largest producer of generic drugs.
• Emerged as the lowest manufacturing cost in the world
• The largest producer of the vaccine in the world
• Third largest overall drug producer by volume.

Challenges to the pharmaceutical industry:

• Raw material
• Fake brand
• Price coping

Raw material:

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is highly dependent on China for raw materials or Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. As of now, 70% of raw material is being imported from China.

Price coping:

Industries are facing pressure from the government and the public to make drugs more affordable. It may result in quality compromise.

Try to solve the following questions:

• Why does the pharmaceutical industry concentrate largely in the western region of the country? ( UPSC 2015, 150 words, 10 marks)

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