Indian Pharmaceutical Industry to grow at 11-13% in FY2020

The rating agency ICRA said on Thursday that Indian pharmaceutical industry is likely to grow by 11-13 percent in the current fiscal.

ICRA said that the growth speed for the pharma industry is likely to remain at 11% to 13% in the financial year 2020, on the back of solid interest from the domestic market, given increasing spend on healthcare along with improving access.

“The revenue growth for the Indian pharmaceutical industry in Q4 FY2019 stood at 11.8% supported by the US and Europe. The US grew by 21.3% led by new product launches, few limited competition products, moderation in pricing pressure and market share gains. Europe continues to demonstrate good growth at 18.8% though few companies reported a decline in revenues. Growth from European markets benefitted from higher tender wins, new product introduction in B2B segments and low base effect though healthcare reforms resulting in price cuts continue to pose challenges. For US market, companies (within our sample set) witnessed positive growth momentum at 21.3% Q4FY2019 and 10.7% FY2019 compared to FY2018 growth of -13.1%, said Gaurav Jain, Vice President, ICRA.

The release also stated, "The growth would, however, be constrained by regulatory interventions such as compulsory genericization, price controls, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) oversight for manufacturing deficiencies".

As per an ICRA report covering a sample of 21 companies in the industry, the growth during Financial Year 2019 stood at around 12 percent.

Gaurav Jain, Vice President & Co-Head, ICRA Corporate Ratings said: "The growth in FY2020 is expected to be supported by 4.2 percent WPI linked price hike for NLEM (National List of Essential Medicines) portfolio".

He also said that the credit metrics of leading pharma companies are expected to remain the same in view of future growth prospects in regulated markets and relatively strong balance sheets.