From life-saving antibiotics to cutting-edge cancer treatments, when the world needs medicines — it often looks to India. India supplies 20% of global generic medicines, manufactures 60% of the world's vaccines, and reaches over 200 countries across continents. This scale and capability doesn't just enable affordable medicines—it fuels hope for billions, with one in every three pills consumed globally proudly made in India.
India’s position rests on three main sources of strength: clear policy direction, steady advances in technology, and an industry that has learned to operate at scale through many cycles. Recent data from Axis Securities shows this growth: the sector grew by 17.6% compared to last year in Q2 FY25, reflects both a solid base today and considerable headroom for tomorrow.
While India's position as a global pharmaceutical leader remains undisputed, the path forward demands addressing both, core challenges and seizing emerging opportunities.
Quality: The Non Negotiable Core
The sector's evolution has been driven by an unprecedented synergy between government vision and industry action. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI), introduced in 2020, marked a defining moment in this journey. It prompted many organizations to scale up their plants, widen product portfolios and explore more specialised, higher margin segments.
That push was reinforced in March 2024 through the Revamped Pharmaceuticals Technology Upgradation Assistance Scheme (RPTUAS), under which 60 companies committed to modernising facilities and upgrading technologies to contemporary cGMP standards.
At the heart of these initiatives lies an unwavering commitment to quality and patient safety. This commitment transcends mere regulatory compliance; it represents our fundamental responsibility to ensure that every medicine that reaches a patient is safe, effective, and manufactured to the highest quality standards.
Manufacturing environments today look very different from those of a decade ago. Product testing and validation have evolved from periodic checks to a sophisticated, real-time process powered by advanced analytics and state-of-the-art testing facilities. This digital transformation extends across the entire supply chain, where smart inventory systems have replaced manual processes, bringing exceptional clarity to operations. As these technological foundations mature, they will pave the way for even more ambitious possibilities through Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration.
Supply chains are going through a similar upgrade. Barcoding, track and trace, smart inventory tools and predictive maintenance bring greater visibility and control from raw material to finished pack. As these capabilities mature, they create fertile ground for more advanced digital and AI driven tools.
AI as a Catalyst for Change
Artificial Intelligence has moved from theory into daily work across the global industry, and Indian pharma is part of that shift. Generative AI, in particular, is reshaping early research and complex decision making. Scientists can simulate disease pathways, explore how molecules might behave and rank candidates before they enter the lab, trimming time and cost from discovery.
McKinsey estimates that Gen AI could unlock about US$60–110 billion in annual value for pharmaceutical and medical product companies. For a sector that commits large budgets to R&D and waits years for therapies to reach the market, that scale of benefit carries real weight.
While technological advancement drives innovation from within, equally significant changes are taking shape from outside the industry. The industry is responding to a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour. Armed with personal genetic data, biomarker information from wearable devices, and AI tools like ChatGPT, patients and consumers are taking a more active role in healthcare decisions. This evolution in patient engagement and expectations demands a corresponding transformation in how the industry develops and delivers solutions.
This change in expectations is prompting companies to revisit trial design, evidence generation, patient communication, digital engagement and long term support programmes.
Leadership Priorities: AI, Agility and the 45 Degree Model
In this landscape, a few guiding ideas can help leaders steer their organizations.
To begin with, AI needs a strong foundation. Scattered pilots and isolated tools deliver limited benefit. Companies gain more when they build integrated, scalable platforms that embed ethics, data protection and regulatory expectations from the outset. Regular dialogue with authorities becomes essential as AI and Big Data frameworks evolve, so that patient protection and innovation advance together.
In today's dynamic environment, organizational agility has emerged as a key differentiator, reshaping how companies operate and compete. Success increasingly depends on the ability to pivot quickly, innovate rapidly, and adapt to changing market needs - all while maintaining unwavering quality standards.
This operational agility, however, needs to be anchored in genuine patient-centricity, moving beyond accessible healthcare solutions to truly understanding and responding to diverse patient needs, from affordability to personalized treatment options.
Building this kind of organization calls for planned capability development rather than a string of disconnected projects. The 45 degree model provides a practical way to plan this journey. It acts like a roadmap, helping companies build new strengths in digital, analytical and operational areas step by step, in sync with how their business strategy evolves.
Rather than a sudden burst of big programmes followed by long quiet periods, the company climbs steadily, adding tools, processes and skills in stages that teams can absorb. In a world where technology moves quickly, this measured build up eases pressure on people, keeps progress moving and steers the organization away from the familiar “capability trap” where ambitions grow faster than the ability to deliver.
People, Collaboration and the Wider Ecosystem
Behind every new piece of technology stand skilled people. The sector unlocks the value of digital tools and AI only when employees feel confident using them. That calls for sustained investment in training—covering data literacy, AI enabled tools, advanced manufacturing methods and cross functional problem solving.
Working in cross functional teams brings another advantage: it naturally advances sustainability. When manufacturing, quality, supply chain and commercial leaders sit together, they can redesign processes to use fewer resources, trim losses, lower the carbon footprint of plants and transport, and shape supply networks that are leaner and more resilient.
Around the companies themselves sits an ecosystem that gives India additional strength. Regulators, universities, teaching hospitals, start ups, technology providers and international partners together create a lively environment where ideas circulate, pilots get tested and proven models spread across the industry.
The future looks promising - projections indicate the sector will reach US$ 130 billion by 2030. Achieving that scale will require agility, thoughtful capability building and a consistent focus on quality and patient outcomes. If India manages to combine its manufacturing depth with digital excellence and responsible use of AI, the coming decade may mark the most influential chapter in its pharmaceutical journey—for the country, and for global health.
The article is written by Christoph Funke, Chief Technical Operations Officer, Lupin.
This article was first published in the ET Pharma (spotlighted in the portal’s special section, ET Pharma Exclusives), on February 20, 2026.
