ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s the Indian pharmaceutical industry has been experiencing rapid growth and significant advancement in its domestic technological capabilities. Many Indian pharmaceutical companies have emerged as global players, with India experiencing an ever-increasing trade surplus in pharmaceutical products (Pradhan 2006). An industry that was almost nonexistent at the dawn of independence is now a global competitor. The main factor responsible for this transformation of the pharmaceutical industry is a host of strategic government policies aimed at promoting indigenous technology and production (Pradhan and Alakshendra 2006). The starting of public-sector companies which could assume a leading role in enhancing local capabilities in the production of bulk drugs, the adoption of a process patent regime, and regulation of the activities of foreign firms were some of the important policy initiatives.
