Indian pharma must move beyond generics to credible innovation, say industry leaders

India’s pharma leaders are making a collective case that the next phase of growth must move beyond scale-driven generics to credible, doctor-accepted innovation, without losing India’s core commitment to access and affordability.

At a panel discussion on the sidelines of the book launch Made In India: The Story of Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin and Indian Pharma by Manish Sabharwal, some of the industry’s most influential voices reflected on why innovation continues to be Indian pharma’s toughest frontier

and what must change over the next decade.

Innovation is no longer optional, but credibility is the real bottleneck

YK Hamied, the architect of India’s generics revolution, reiterated that his lifelong fight was never against patents but against monopolies.

Recalling his role in pushing for the Indian Patent Act and supplying HIV/AIDS drugs at $300 a year when global prices were as high as $20,000, Hamied said access and affordability defined India’s pharma ethos.

However, while generics are well understood and accepted, he underlined that the real bottleneck for Indian innovation is the acceptability of Indian drugs among the medical community, making credibility—not capability—the key challenge.

India risks falling behind if it underestimates competitors like China

Several speakers acknowledged that India’s innovation ecosystem remains uneven, especially when compared with China.

GV Prasad said Indian pharma underestimated China for years, viewing it largely as a low-cost supplier rather than a serious innovation contender. That misreading, he noted, allowed China to build more evolved regulatory pathways and benefit from strong state support, enabling it to move rapidly up the value chain and emerge as a credible innovation force.

The industry must take calculated innovation risks now to secure the next decade

Dilip Shanghvi pointed to Sun Pharma’s own journey—from a single psychiatric drug and one medical representative to a generics leader with growing innovative ambitions—as evidence that innovation is no longer optional for Indian pharma, even if it requires committing large sums with uncertain outcomes.

Vinita Gupta of Lupin added that although 97% of India’s market remains off-patent generics, segments such as biosimilars already demand branding and credibility. She said the future lies in India-focused innovation and lower-cost drug development.

The panel agreed that India has a real opportunity over the next decade by leveraging its patient base for clinical trials and focusing on India-relevant innovation, but warned that success will hinge on regulatory support, selective R&D-led acquisitions and early wins that build confidence among doctors, investors and companies alike.