ABSTRACT
The raison d’etre to undertake a study on the Indian pharmaceutical industry emanates from a requirement motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, which has resulted in a million deaths worldwide and still counting, has resulted in unimaginable and unforeseen consequences on the entire terrain of national and international discourses ranging from people to business to foreign policy. It is well known that during the pandemic, the world continued to depend on Indian vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturers to get their supplies. As per data, India exported 5.84 crore doses of indigenous COVID-19 vaccines to 70 countries as of March 2021.
The chapter elucidates the internal and external pushes and pulls which have resulted in India being hailed as the “pharmacy of the world”, and a vaccine provider to the developing South. The intersection of business acumen and foreign policy vision can ensure that India is well placed to ascend on the global landscape as one of the most favoured and trusted pharmaceutical manufacturers. 113The chapter begins with an analysis of the reasons which stunted India’s emergence and recognition in the international pharma space. The second section of the article analyses the push and pull factors, both domestic and foreign, which are catapulting India as an alternative to China and the developed world as a provider of lowcost medicines and vaccines. The final section of the chapter takes the reader’s attention towards the factors that limit India’s potential and possibilities. It also attempts to suggest pathways to securing India as a global ‘medical superpower’.
