Indian Pharma Market Grows 6% In June On High Base

The Indian pharmaceutical sector reported a single-digit growth in June on a high base, driven by a rise in price and growth in new products.

Industry sales were up 6% over June last year when sales had expanded 16.5%, according to data from the All Indian Origin Chemists and Distributors Ltd. Sales had risen 5.6% in May.

"The growth came in below the 10–11% pharma market growth expectation for FY24, primarily on account of the continued decline in volume growth in June 2023," said Krishnanath Munde, associate director at India Ratings and Research Pvt.

The growth was aided by price hikes and new product launches, Munde told BQ Prime. "India Ratings maintains its Indian pharma market growth estimates for FY24 would be 10–11% year-on-year."

• Volumes declined 2.1% versus a 9.3% rise last year.

• Prices increased by 5% year-on-year, compared to 6.2% last year.

• New product launches registered a growth of 3.1% against a rise of 1.1% over the previous year.

In the first half of 2023, the growth in average price and new products stood at 5.6% and 3.2% respectively, while the volume growth fell 1.1% against overall average market growth of 7.7% over last year, according to Munde.

According to data from the AIOCD:

• Sales of the pain segment rose the most at 10%, followed by the cardiac and neurological segments, which reported an 8% growth.

• The respiratory and dermatological segments reported a growth of around 7%, while the gynaecological products rose 6%.

• Anti-diabetic and vitamin segment sales rose around 5%, while gastroenterology grew by 4%.

• Anti-infectives segment reported a low-single digit growth of 2%.

The moving annual total or 12-month rolling sales of overall pharma products rose 9.8% in June, according to the AIOCD. That compares to 6.6% in June 2022 and 11.8% in June 2021.