Indian Government Pushes Pharma Exports

India's government has warned that it could retaliate against measures by the European Union (EU) to cut imports of drug products such as wide-spectrum antibiotics under the so-called advanced licence scheme. The bilateral trade system gives India an annual 1.7% share of the EU's drug import market.

India has long complained that the EU's import regime, while not constituting a tariff barrier as such, has restricted market access because of overly heavy regulatory requirements. The government insists that the effectively duty-free relief the advanced licence scheme offers is compatible with World Trade Organisation rules, and, as in previous instances, claims that it will contest the EU's decision to overturn the scheme.

Meanwhile, the country's Export Import Bank has pledged to boost efforts to internationalise India's drug export industry in the wake of the new Patent Law. Government export financing, roughly 15% of which was awarded to drug companies last year, will target Indian overseas acquisitions and joint ventures, especially in R&D. Such official efforts coincide neatly with the local industry's ambitions to increase its sophistication and technical expertise, in a bid to internationalise and penetrate new markets.