Indian Pharma Within Global Reach?
Padmashree Gehl Sampath
#2006-031
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is presently going through a phase of
transition and potential consolidation, owing to India's new
TRIPS-compliant intellectual property regime and other rules aimed at
enhancing the industry's credibility nationally and internationally.
Appropriate policy interventions can play a large role in cushioning the
transition (and gradual consolidation) of the industry post-2005. Using
firm level data collected in 2004-2005, this paper seeks to make two
major contributions in this regard. The research findings show that the
Indian pharmaceutical sector is a heterogeneous mix of firms with vast
differences in innovative capabilities. Based on these differences, the
groups can be categorized into specific "innovation modes" (the
innovator, the niche operator and the manufacturer), each mode being a
step closer towards the innovative pharmaceutical firm. Second, the
paper highlights how the emerging strategies of firms in all three
groups, although different, underpin the importance of systemic
coordination in the pharmaceutical sector. The analysis links both these
findings to policies pursued in the pharmaceutical sector over the past
four decades and highlights the role of differential innovation policy
in ensuring optimal sectoral performance.
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
ISSN 1871-9872