Will SAFTA boost pharma trade with Pakistan?
Nithya Subramanian Richa Mishra New Delhi , Dec. 2 THE Chairman of Pakistan’s major pharmaceutical company Hilton Pharma Pvt Ltd was in India recently, meeting up with representatives of the domestic industry. Delhi-based Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has started preliminary studies of the Pakistan market. Following the signing of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), will these initiatives just remain gestures or translate into real business? The potential seems to be there. The growth rate of the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan is pegged at a healthy 15 per cent and the per capita spends are much higher compared to India. According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the market is either dominated by imported drugs or drugs manufactured by multinational companies such as Glaxo, Roche, Rhone Poulenc, Bayer and Merck. “Despite the growth in domestic production, the average import of drugs in Pakistan during the last three years, was as high 31.4 per ce
