New Delhi [India], September 2 : India's pharmaceutical exports recorded stronger growth in the first quarter of the current financial year, rising 6.8 per cent compared with the modest growth recorded during the previous year, Pharmexcil Chairperson Namit Joshi has said.
Joshi said the improvement came despite geopolitical challenges, including disruptions in West Asia, highlighting the resilience of Indian exports.
"What we saw in Q1, our performance was really on a hard side because our annual performance was a little subtle, like we grew by only hardly 2.13 per cent. But then when we compared it with Q1 performance of 2026-2027, then we grew by 6.8 per cent," Joshi told ANI.
He said the performance strengthened further in June, when pharmaceutical exports grew 7.3 per cent.
"For us, June was even better. Like, only a single month June was better. It grew up by 7.3 per cent, which is comparable to our national GDP growth also, which is 7.8 per cent," he said.
Joshi said the performance showed that India's exports and domestic consumption remained resilient despite international uncertainties.
"So in spite of all these challenges in the Middle East, West Asia crisis, I think the resilience which India has shown towards the exports, towards the domestic consumption, I think these are big contributing factors towards our GDP," he said.
On India's dependence on China in the pharmaceutical supply chain, Joshi said he does not expect dependence to reduce immediately, but sees the relationship gradually moving towards greater collaboration.
"We will not say that dependency on China will reduce, but then I foresee that there will be lot of collaboration which will happen. So from competition, we will move into a collaborative stage," he said.
At the same time, Joshi said India needs to become more self-reliant and continue supporting domestic manufacturing through the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
"India per se has to be more self-reliant. When and how will take some time.... we are on the right track because the PLI scheme is working very well," he said.
Joshi added that policy support should ensure companies that have benefited from the PLI programme continue investing in the country.
"The only thing is we have to create a guardrail to secure the PLI winners so that they continue to invest in India and further take the growth momentum," he said.