The Centre is closely monitoring the evolving West Asia crisis and may extend a series of relief measures for sectors such as pharma beyond June 30, 2026, if the situation warrants further intervention, a senior official of the commerce and industry ministry said on Tuesday.
Review of Current Measures
“We have taken five measures with respect to the West Asia crisis (for the pharma sector). We are reviewing the situation on a daily basis and they (relief measures) could get extended based on the war situation by the end of this month,” said Ravi Teja, deputy director, ministry of commerce and industry, addressing newspersons in Hyderabad.
Policy Response to Shield Exporters
The Indian government announced a series of measures as part of a broader policy response to shield exporters, including the Indian pharma industry, from petrochemicals supply disruptions, raw material shortages and rising costs triggered by the conflict that has blocked the Strait of Hormuz since the end of February.
One of the key decisions was full customs duty exemption on critical petrochemical inputs until June 30 this year. The government reduced import duties to zero on a list of essential chemicals used in pharmaceutical manufacturing, including ammonia, isopropyl alcohol, methanol, acetic acid and phenol, to ensure uninterrupted availability of crucial inputs and prevent cost escalation in medicine production.
Cost Stabilisation and Trade Facilitation
To support cost stabilisation, customs duties on select raw materials have also been lowered to help manufacturers offset rising freight and insurance expenses. Pointing out that the Indian pharma industry was able to end FY26 in positive territory with exports of over $31.1 billion as compared to $30.5 billion in FY25, the official said the government has taken up aggressive trade facilitation and export promotion measures through Pharmexcil and is also trying to negotiate with different countries to accept the Indian Pharmacopoeia as part of efforts to derisk against geopolitical tensions.
“Right now the Indian Pharmacopoeia is accepted only in 22-23 countries, so we are trying to get our Indian Pharmacopoeia recognised and accepted in more countries so that it becomes easier for our companies to go there and do business,” he said, pointing out that this was being done to enable the Indian pharma industry to diversify into alternative markets and reduce dependence on the US market, which is India’s largest pharma market and accounts for a third of India’s total pharma exports at around $10.5 billion in FY26. India has around 1,000 US FDA-registered sites, the highest number outside the US.
Growth of Pharmaceutical Exports
He said India’s pharmaceutical exports have grown from $14 billion in FY 2015 to $31 billion in FY 2026, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.22%.
“India is the third-largest producer of pharmaceuticals by volume, supplies around 20% of global generics demand, and exports to more than 200 countries. More than 60% of India’s pharmaceutical exports go to stringently regulated markets,” he added.
