Indian Pharma Market Grew 8.7% In January On New Launches, Price Rise

The Indian Pharmaceuticals Market continued to deliver healthy growth at 8.7% year-on-year in January 2025, against 7.7% year-on-year in December 2024 and 9.5% year-on-year in January 2024. Overall growth in January was driven by growth in price and new launches, while volume growth remained muted at 0.9% year on year.

In calendar year 2024, IPM reported growth at an average of 7.7% year on year, according to PharmaTrac, led by price growth, new launches and volume growth.

Among the top 10 therapies, cardiac, gastro, neuro/CNS, and derma reported low double digit growth, while weak growth was seen in anti-infectives, respiratory, and gynaec in January.

Ind-Ra expects IPM growth to be at 7.5-8.0% year-on-year (revised from 8-9%) for FY25 against 6.5% year-on-year in FY24 and 9.9% year-on-year growth in FY23, Krishnanath Munde, associate director at India Ratings and Research, told NDTV Profit.

• Volume growth increased 0.9%. It saw no growth in January 2024.

• Price growth of 5.3% in January, as compared to 5.2% over the same period last year.

• New launches increased 2.6%, as against 4.3% in January 2024.

The moving annual total—or the 12-month rolling sales of overall pharma products—increased 8.3% in January.

Key players in the Indian pharmaceutical sector have seen varied year-on-year growth. While several companies have demonstrated robust growth, outperforming the Indian Pharmaceutical Market average, others have struggled to keep pace, and a few have even experienced negative growth.

A significant number of companies have exceeded the IPM growth rate, showcasing their strength and strategic execution. Torrent Pharma leads the pack with an impressive 15.7% YoY growth. Sun Pharma and Eris Lifesciences follow closely behind, both at 13.7%.

Other notable outperformers include Alkem Labs at 10.3%, Dr. Reddy's at 10.4%, Zydus Lifesciences at 9.4%, JB Chemicals at 9.6%, Ajanta Pharma at 9.7%, Cipla and Ipca Labs both at 9.2%, FDC also at 9.2%, Abbott India at 9.0%, and Alembic Pharma at 8.7%.

Several companies have underperformed compared to the IPM growth. Lupin grew 5.6%, Mankind Pharma grew 7.3%, Emcure grew 7.4%, Glenmark Pharma grew 7.9%, and Pfizer India grew 7.3%. These companies have shown positive but lower-than-market-average growth.

GlaxoSmithKline Pharma grew 3.5%, Indoco Remedies experienced a decline of 0.3%, and Sanofi India declined by 2.1%. These companies have experienced the most significant challenges, with GSK showing minimal growth and the latter two actually contracting.