[india-drug] Total number of drug units in India

[Sunitha Srinivas <s.srinivas@ru.ac.za>]

[Now we seem to have some figures for the number of pharmaceutical
manufacturers in India. Hope figures (other than ?rough? estimates) of
the total number of formulations in India will also surface so as to
give the direction to the fact that unless we have a centralised system
to approve formulations or atleast a centralised system to ?MONITOR and
EVALUATE? the number of formulations in India, we cannot escape from
the menace of irrational formulations. 

Idruggers are requested to share their thoughts on how the problems of
irrational formulations and decentralised approval for formulations
should be dealt with, in India ??.SS]

(Source: Pharmabiz. Thanks?.SS)

Total number of drug units remains dubious albeit govt estimates to
12,526
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Tuesday, January 20, 2004 08:00 IST 
Our Bureau, Chennai

While the SSI drug manufacturing industry associations claim that they
have a membership of more than 18000, for some time which led to
assumptions of over 21000 drug manufacturing units in India, the actual
number of units could be way below this, according to official figures
and industry circles. 

According to the latest government data, the total number of
manufacturing licenses issued in 24 states is only 19203. Out of this,
the total number of actual drug units is only 12526, which includes
4354 formulation units, 4645 loan licensees, 1333 bulk drug units, 2228
cosmetic manufacturing units and 966 Homeo manufacturing units. 

Rest of the licenses fall under the miscellaneous category that
includes 1806 blood banks, 272 disinfectant manufacturers, 56 vaccine
makers, 638 surgical device and 199 medical device manufactures, 134
LVP units, 318 repacking units etc. The Mashelkar committee had
collected the data a few months ago by compiling the status of
manufacturing licenses issued by various state drug control offices,
according to sources. 

However, industry sources point out the actual figures could be even
less than the official figures, as most of the drug manufacturers float
different companies while expansion or diversification, especially SSI
units. In order to remain within the purview of SSI ambit and to enjoy
the benefits, most of the SSI units float separate units during the
course of business expansion. Further, even for shifting to a new
premise or to set up a new manufacturing premise, fresh licenses are
issued by the respective state drug control authorities. 

It may be mentioned that Dr RA Mashelkar, chairman of the Mashelkar
committee and director general of the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) had said the actual number of drug
manufacturers were around 5700, and even in this, rationalization was
necessary because the number was still high, according to a newspaper
report. 

Dr MD Nair, a member of the Mashelkar Committee and a senior pharma
consultant told Pharmabiz, the actual number of drug makers in India
could be somewhere in the vicinity of 8000 including bulk drug makers,
and this could further extend to another 2000 considering the
expansions, diversifications etc. 

According to TS Jaishankar, chairman of the Confederation of Indian
Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI), the apex body of various small scale
pharmaceutical associations in the state and regional level, the number
of small scale manufacturers could be around 12000, and the rest could
be loan licensees. The figures quoted by the associations are based on
the rough calculations provided by various state associations and
logical conclusions. However, he confesses the data could not be termed
comprehensive, as all the state associations may not have actually
assessed the industry status. CIPI has started an aggressive membership
campaign, and this could lead to a correct assessment of the actual
number of SSI drug manufacturing units in the country, hopes
Jaishankar.


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