Indian Pharma Market Sustains Double-Digit Growth In March
Overall, the pharma market grew at 9.3% in fiscal 2023, according to India Ratings.
The Indian pharmaceutical market reported double-digit growth for the second straight month in March, albeit on a low base, due to robust performance in top three therapies.
Industry sales rose 13% in comparison to the same month last year, when there was a 2% year-on-year decline. In February, there was a growth of 20.3%, according to data from the All Indian Origin Chemists and Distributors.
Overall, the pharma market grew at 9.3% in fiscal 2023 against a growth of 14.6% and 2.1% in the previous two fiscals, respectively, according to India Ratings and Research Pvt.
"The Indian pharmaceuticals market delivered yet another healthy performance in March 2023," said Krishnanath Munde, associate director at India Ratings.
It was on account of a lower base in March last year and robust performance in the top three therapies—anti-infectives, respiratory and pain management—which contribute around 30% of the total Indian pharma market sales, he said.
Other therapies reported single-digit growth and overall, the top 10 therapies constituted 87% of the pharma market's revenue, according to Munde.
"We expect a 10–11% year-on-year growth over the next couple of years," Munde said.
India Ratings highlighted that the market started showing recovery in growth since June 2022, after negative performance in April and May that year. The average growth between June 2022 and March 2023 was at a healthy rate of 12.6% year-on-year, despite single-digit growth in October and January.
Key Highlights
"Volume has been the key growth driver of the overall market performance in March over last year," Munde said.
Volume growth stood at 4.5% versus 7.9% decline last year.
Prices increased by 5.6% year-on-year as compared with 5.1% last year.
New product launches registered growth of 2.9% as against 0.9% over the previous year.
Therapy-Wise Growth
According to data from the AIOCD:
Sales of respiratory segment rose the most—50% over last March—followed by anti-infectives segment, which reported a jump of 32% year-on-year.
Pain segment reported 18% growth, while gastroenterology and vitamin segments grew around 8% year-on-year.
Cardiac and neurological/CNS segment therapy sales rose around 6%, while dermatological and gynaecological product sales rose 4% and 3%, respectively.
Anti-diabetic segment reported single-digit growth of 2% year-on-year.
MAT Performance
According to the AIOCD, the moving annual total—or 12-month rolling sales—of overall pharma products rose 9.3% in March.
Company Performance
Here's how the key listed pharmaceutical companies performed, based on AIOCD data:
'Higher-Than-Market' Growth
Indoco Remedies Ltd. reported the highest year-on-year growth of 28% in March, followed by Cipla Ltd. and FDC Ltd., which grew 27%.
Alembic Pharma Ltd. and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. grew 24% and 22%, respectively.
Abbott India Ltd., Alkem Laboratories Ltd., Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. and GSK Pharmaceuticals Ltd. reported year-on-year sales growth in the range of 14–18%, outperforming the market.
'In-Line With Market' Growth
Ipca Laboratories Ltd. reported growth of 13.2%, in-line with market performance.
'Lower-Than-Market' Growth
Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Lupin Ltd. grew at around 9%, while Eris Lifesciences Ltd. gained 7%.
Ajanta Pharma Ltd., JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Zydus Lifesciences Ltd. grew in the range of 4–5%.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Pfizer Ltd. reported a low single-digit growth of 3% and 2%, respectively, underperforming the market. Sanofi India Ltd. reported a year-on-year fall in growth of around 9%.