Indian Pharma Market Reports 14% Year-On-Year Growth In July: Rating Agency

MUMBAI, India — Credit rating agency India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said on Aug. 10 that 13.7 percent year-on-year revenue growth in India’s pharmaceutical market during 2021 was led by continued demand normalization post the high growth months of April and May.

“The growth in June was lower at 14.1 percent,” the agency said in a statement. “The higher growth in April [51.5 percent] and May [47.8 percent] was because of the lower base effect and Covid-19-induced demand during the second wave.”

“The lower-though-healthy growth in July was witnessed in therapies that have not benefited from Covid-19-led demand in the past. Therapies that have benefited from Covid-19-led demand include anti-infectives, gastro, and vitamins.”

Ind-Ra expected the demand normalization to continue if the pace of vaccination remains strong. It expected market revenue growth of over 12 percent year-on-year for 2021-22.

During the first quarter of 2021-22, the pharma market reported growth of 37.2 percent, aided by the lower base effect during the first quarter of 2020-21, which was impacted due to the nationwide lockdown.

During July, volumes grew 4.5 percent, price growth was 5.7 percent, and new product launches were 3.5 percent attributed to acute therapy products.

Acute therapies like anti-infectives, analgesics, and respiratory witnessed sales growth of 30.2 percent, 24.1 percent, and 22.8 percent, respectively, while gastro grew 19.6 percent during July.

Growth underperformance was observed in chronic therapies during the month, with cardiac and anti-diabetic growing 4.1 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

During moving total annual July, Cipla, Glenmark, and Emcure significantly outperformed the market with year-on-year growth of 19.4 percent, 33.9 percent, and 26.1 percent, respectively.

This was led by higher sales of Covid-19 related products and the continued outperforming of chronic therapies, said Ind-Ra. 

India Ratings and Research have also published the August 2021 report on India’s telecom sector.

“The revision in the floor prices for select pre-paid and post-paid plans by Bharti Airtel Limited in July 2021 will support its average revenue per user growth in the medium to long term,” the agency said in a blog. 

“This is because the telco is less likely to face competition from Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited owing to almost similar entry-level plans in the pre-paid category and the sticky nature of subscribers in the post-paid category.”

The company said that broadband subscribers increased to 64.4 percent of the overall wireless subscriber base in May 2021 from 64.3 percent in April 2021 and 47 percent in March 2019. 

In May 2021, while the number of broadband subscribers declined by 2.9 million.

(With inputs from ANI)

Edited by Amrita Das and Praveen Pramod Tewari