India should negotiate from a position of strength and not reduce import duties under the threat of “retaliatory” tariffs from the United States, as “it would set a precedent”, says former Director-General of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) R Uday Bhaskar.
Pointing to India’s history of providing affordable medicines across the world, including the US, Bhaskar told businessline, “the issue should not be seen in isolation”. Medium and small companies would be affected not just in the pharmaceutical industry but segments like medical devices as well, if tariffs on imports were reduced, he said. Besides, there is no guarantee that further conditions would not be placed on the country and industry, despite current conditions being met.
India should negotiate from a position of strength, said Bhaskar, pointing to India being home to over 700 manufacturing plants approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Besides, Indian generic drugs account for over 40 per cent of all generic prescriptions in the US, translating into healthcare savings for them, he added.
Industry stand
The former DG’s view comes even as countries ready their strategies to tackle higher import tariffs on products going to the US, from April 2. His view, though, differs from a section of the pharmaceutical industry that has recommended zero import tariffs to the Indian Government. This year’s Budget has reduced tariffs, down to zero in some cases, said an industry voice pointing to cancer and other critical drugs.
Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance said, they had recommended zero tariffs to the Centre, as the imported drugs are patented drugs. And bringing down tariffs could help reduce the price of these medicines for patients, he said.
Industry estimates peg Indian pharma exports to the US at $8.7 billion, while imports were about $800 million; import duty on US pharma products to India is close to 11 per cent, while Indian pharma exports to the US have zero import tariff. According to an IQVIA report commissioned by IPA, medicines from Indian companies helped the US healthcare system save $219 billion (2022) and a total of $1.3 trillion between 2013 and 2022.
