Ban on exports to Pak won’t affect state pharma industry

The Centre’s decision to ban pharmaceutical exports to Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 people dead, will have a negligible impact on the state’s pharma industry as little business was transacted with the neighbouring country.

Even as the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) Industrial Area is acclaimed as the pharmaceutical hub of Asia for housing more than 350 pharmaceutical units, Pakistan has never remained a choice for pharma exports, opined experts. “Pakistan imports some anti-cancer formulations and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which is a pharma raw material, from manufacturers in Gujarat, Indore, etc, while manufacturers in Himachal have not evinced interest in dealing with the neighbouring country,” said an official of a key API manufacturer.

While the Centre’s Department of Pharmaceuticals was compiling figures of pharmaceutical exports to Pakistan in the last two years, the state’s pharmaceutical industry said the neighbouring country has never been a major exporter of pharma products. “Nil pharma exports to Pakistan from the state was also attributed to the fact that a US dollar was equal to a whopping 281.25 Pakistani rupee making exports costlier,” said another pharmaceutical exporter, who has set up a manufacturing facility in Afghanistan. About 30% to 40% of its raw material, including APIs and vital therapeutic products like anti-cancer formulations, were imported from India.

Dr Rajesh Gupta, president, Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association, confirmed that the ban on pharma exports to Pakistan will have nil impact on the pharmaceutical industry of Himachal as the state firms did not transact any business with the neighbouring nation. The industry associations have, however, appealed to fellow manufacturers to keep themselves updated on the Government of India’s directions on the subject and ensure no consignment, if at all they dealt with Pakistan, was shipped to them.