Hyderabad: Describing the situation in terms of raw material import from China as "grim," India Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) said the Indian Pharma Industry has enough stocks of active pharmaceutical ingredient (APIs) for two to three months only.
Speaking on the sidelines of BioAsia 2020,IPA Secretary General Sudarshan Jain said they were in touch with the Centre, seeking faster environmental clearances for some of the API manufacturing units so that dependence on China was reduced.
According to Jain, India imports Rs 17,000 crore worth of APIs from the Novel Coronavirus-hit nation.
"It is a very critical and serious situation. No one has got the full predictability of what is happening. We have inventories for two to three months," Jain said.
Read more:Govt to soon announce measures to deal with Coronavirus impact on industry: FM
"What we are trying to do is work with the government to see the environmental clearances can be given faster wherever there are issues, so that they (the APIs which are being imported from China) can be manufactured in India and we can have alternate source of supplies," he said.
Jain said as such China has extended Lunar holidays in that country and the situation may ease from March first week.
"If we start having the supplies from first week of March (from China), we should be able to come out of the problem.
However, it is very difficult to predict whether situation improves. We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis, he added.
Replying to a query, he said the Indian Pharma industry may also consider some of the European destinations for API supplies.
Prices of the key pharmaceutical ingredients could rise
The prices of the key pharmaceutical ingredients could rise if the coronavirus situation in China does not improve soon, a top company official said.
China accounted for 67.56 per cent of total imports of bulk drugs and drug intermediates at USD 2,405.42 million to India in 2018-19.
"The prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) could increase if the situation in China does not improve soon," Zydus Group Chairman Pankaj Patel said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met the representatives of various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, textiles, chemicals, electronics and IT hardware, solar, auto, surgical equipments, and paints, to review the situation following the outbreak of the deadly virus in China.
She said the government will soon announce measures to deal with the impact of coronavirus outbreak on the domestic industry.
(PTI Report)
