Trump’s ‘Buy American First’ order will actually favour India — drug export body tells govt

 Pharmexcil has told Modi govt that Indian generics constitute 10% of the US generic market in value terms & the order may give Indian drugmakers a chance to capture more.

New Delhi: The ‘Buy American first’ order signed by US President Donald Trump earlier this month will hardly impact Indian drugmakers, but will rather favour them, the country’s apex pharma export body has told the Narendra Modi government, ThePrint has learnt. 

On 6 August, Trump had signed an executive order, directing federal agencies to prioritise purchasing domestically-manufactured selected drugs and medical materials.

The US is the largest market for India’s pharmaceutical industry and the impact of the order was first assumed to be huge on the Indian industry.   

However, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had asked its wing, the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), to submit comments based on their analysis of Trump’s decision. 

“In the comments sent, Pharmexcil has told the MOC (ministry of commerce) that the order would hardly impact Indian drugmakers,” Udaya Bhaskar, Director-General of Pharmexcil, told ThePrint.

The Pharmexcil head said they have informed the ministry that “the government of the USA is looking for cost-effective medical supplies for the federal government procurement from domestic manufacturers”.

“The Executive Order on sourcing of essential drugs by the federal government would not have much impact on the generics supplied by India for the reasons of cost competitiveness as well as the negligible participation in the public procurement system,”