Drug Wars
India is importing less pharmaceutical raw materials from China, but the Chinese challenge is far from over.
On January 29, 2016, the Narendra Modi government decided to withdraw the customs duty exemption on import of 73 bulk drugs. It was a tough call as import of these low cost key active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), or raw materials almost entirely from China was helping Indian formulation companies, or entities that make syrups, tablets, injections, etc, remain competitive. An increase in medicine prices due to rise in input costs would have been unpopular as imports included raw materials used to make life saving medicines for critical illnesses such as cancer and HIV/AIDS.
But the government bit the bullet because of a bigger threat. The import of low
