The Indian pharmaceutical industry will become self-reliant in the next two–three years, Serum Institute of India Pvt.'s Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said.
Though the pharmaceutical companies are currently dependent on China for active pharmaceutical ingredients and raw materials, they have now begun shifting to local productions, Poonawalla said.
"The cost of some of these drugs may increase as a result," he told BQ Prime's Niraj Shah, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the coronavirus cases in India continue to fall, SII is focusing on developing non-Covid vaccines for diseases like malaria and human papillomavirus or the HPV Infection.
"We have dengue vaccines coming in about two–three years. We hope to roll out a vaccine for five strains of the meningitis bacterial disease that plagues the African continent also," Poonawalla said.
The government's quick regulatory clearances and streamlined procedures have aided the company in "creating newer drugs and innovating much faster", he said.
"It's an exciting time to be a company working and investing in India," Poonawalla said.
Lending And Insurance Business
With the growth of digitisation in India, it has become easier to run a digitised non-banking finance company, in terms of dispensing loans, offering other services and collecting the money, Poonawalla said.
He expects continued credit growth in India.
The company's health insurance business complements its healthcare business, and there are plans to provide "affordable, widespread and good" health insurance to the people in India, he said.
Watch the full interview here:
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