India may carry the proud title of "pharmacy of the world," but a new quarterly trade report by NITI Aayog has exposed a critical weakness at the heart of that reputation: the country relies on China for 65% of the imports it needs to manufacture medicines, covering Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Key Starting Materials. The finding has placed one of India's most vital sectors under fresh and urgent scrutiny.
The Scale of China's Hold on India's Drug Inputs
NITI Aayog's quarterly trade report is unambiguous about the depth of the problem. China's 65% share of India's API and essential raw material imports means that any significant disruption in bilateral trade could cascade directly into medicine shortages. These inputs are not optional components but the chemical backbone without which drug manufacturing simply cannot proceed. The concentration of supply in a single foreign country creates a structural risk that the report treats as a serious concern for the health sector.
Rising Costs Making Things Worse
On top of the import dependency, the report identifies growing environmental compliance requirements as a factor pushing up manufacturing and R&D costs within India. This makes domestic production of raw materials even less competitive at a time when the country urgently needs to build self-reliance. A weak innovation and commercial environment compounds the challenge by creating uncertainty for innovators and long-term investors, discouraging the sustained domestic investment that could over time erode the dependence on Chinese suppliers.
NITI Aayog's Roadmap for the Pharma Sector
The report does not stop at diagnosis. NITI Aayog recommends a concerted push into higher-value pharmaceutical segments and sets out specific measures: improving regulatory transparency to enable patent commercialization, fostering research collaboration, and accelerating startup incubation in the pharma space. The body also emphasizes stronger technology transfer between industry and academic institutions as a lever for building India's capacity in advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing over the long term.
What the Vice Chairman Said
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Ashok Kumar Lahiri, speaking at the release of the report, acknowledged India's track record while pointing clearly to the work ahead. He said India is considered the pharmacy of the world, and while the country performs well in volume terms, it now needs to climb higher in the value chain. He expressed confidence in India's standing abroad and said he saw no reason why Indian pharmaceutical companies, if they brought branded products of good quality to market at the right price, could not secure a significantly larger footprint in international markets.
Why the Stakes Are So High
India's existing position in global healthcare makes the urgency of this conversation clear. By volume, India supplies roughly 50% of Africa's generic drug needs, 40% of the United States', and 25% of the United Kingdom's. The global pharmaceutical market registered total demand of $1,300 billion last year, broken down into $1,020 billion in medicines and $261 billion in APIs. Given that India is already a pillar of global generic drug supply, any fragility in its raw material chain carries consequences that stretch far beyond its own borders.
