India’s pharmaceutical and life sciences sector is undergoing one of its most significant transformations in decades, shifting from a healthcare importer to a global exporter of preventive healthcare, even as it navigates growing sustainability, regulatory and supply chain pressures. Speaking at the 7th CII Pharma & Life Sciences Summit 2025, Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh said India is entering a new era where innovation, data, sustainability and global health equity will define the country’s pharma roadmap. For a sector that supplies over 20% of the world’s generics, employs millions and is expected to touch USD 130 billion by 2030, the message from the Summit was clear: India must innovate faster, manufacture cleaner, adopt global sustainability standards and maintain affordability simultaneously.
Dr. Singh highlighted India’s evolving identity as a global exporter of preventive healthcare, noting that the country has moved far beyond its earlier role as a healthcare importer. He cited the development of Nephrathomicine—India’s first indigenously developed antibiotic effective against resistant respiratory infections—as a strong symbol of Atmanirbhar and Vishwabandhu Bharat. India, he said, is now ranked third in biomanufacturing in the Pacific region and is exporting biodegradable medical implants owing to their global competitiveness. He emphasised that India’s leadership in global health will increasingly be measured through innovation-led manufacturing, AI-driven healthcare delivery, telemedicine expansion, deeptech R&D, and digital disease surveillance under Ayushman Bharat. The recently announced ₹1 lakh crore R&D Fund is expected to boost innovation in biologics, vaccines, healthtech and frontier research.
A new CII–Deloitte sustainability report launched at the Summit cautions that more than 70% of India’s pharma emissions lie outside factory premises—in packaging, logistics, suppliers and R&D—posing a major challenge for a sector deeply integrated into global value chains. The report flags five major risk areas: cleanrooms and HVAC systems consuming nearly 70% of sectoral energy; MSME suppliers at risk of losing global business due to an inability to provide verified carbon data; the emergence of sustainability-linked clinical trial design; the potential to cut emissions by nearly 47% through packaging redesign; and the growing inevitability of internal carbon pricing for exporters. The report also warns that upcoming regulations, including EU’s CSRD, IFRS S1–S2 reporting and India’s BRSR Core, could become trade barriers if India does not align quickly. The biggest structural gap: large companies are increasingly climate-ready, but MSMEs are not—threatening API supply chains and export competitiveness.
A central theme across the Summit was the increasing tension between sustainability and affordability. Shefali Misra, Group Vice President for Public Policy & Government Affairs at Biocon Group, said sustainability cannot be seen as an add-on but must become integral to manufacturing operations. She stressed that ESG is not compliance but a growth strategy. Misra highlighted three transformation tracks shaping global competitiveness: data becoming the universal language of pharma; advanced utility and quality systems that build on India’s strong regulatory history; and the non-negotiable shift toward carbon neutrality, green manufacturing, solar-by-design and continuous manufacturing. However, she cautioned that sustainability must not raise medicine prices, as India’s global identity rests on affordable, high-quality generics. Government-backed frameworks such as ANRF, BIRAC and new national R&D funding mechanisms, she said, will play a key role in enabling this transition.
CII leaders underscored the role of digital science and generative AI in redefining the sector. Dr. Rajesh Jain, Chairman of the CII National Committee on Biotechnology, said AI-enabled innovation will transform drug discovery, clinical trials, supply chain predictability and pharmacovigilance. India’s stability, talent pool and strong digital infrastructure give it a unique advantage in leading the next decade of pharma innovation. From the regulatory side, Joint Drugs Controller General of India Dr. Chandrashekhar Ranga said India must build its own digital regulatory architecture with transparent approvals and clear guidance to innovators. Strong regulation, he emphasised, is essential for India to emerge as a global pharma powerhouse by 2047.
On the export front, Pharmexcil Chairman Namit Joshi said India exported USD 30.46 billion worth of pharma products last year, with 75% coming from formulations. The US remains India’s largest market at 33%, with Africa and Latin America emerging as major growth destinations and Europe continuing steady expansion. India’s affordable generics, he noted, help the US save nearly USD 200 billion annually. India’s achievement of WHO Maturity Level 3, meaning manufacturing sites no longer require foreign inspections, reflects growing global trust in Indian quality. Joshi said sustainability challenges now require formulators to source APIs only from responsible manufacturers, and urged government protection for PLI-backed API producers facing Chinese price undercutting.
Deloitte’s sustainability expert Dr. Remant Kumar Tiwari said sustainability will increasingly decide market access, as leading global pharma companies have already adopted Science-Based Targets (SBTi) that require verifiable emissions reductions across the supply chain. Companies that fail to comply risk losing contracts, facing higher financing costs, and encountering import restrictions in the US and EU. Cold-chain logistics emerged as a major climate risk, with biologics, insulin and vaccines requiring energy-intensive refrigeration that remains largely fossil-fuel-dependent in India. As India expands its vaccine exports, cold-chain emissions could become a bottleneck unless backed by renewable-powered infrastructure.
The CII–Deloitte report outlines a clear roadmap for India: mandatory supplier decarbonisation programmes, adoption of green technologies such as heat pumps and high-efficiency HVAC systems, digital traceability for exports and clinical trials, sustainable packaging redesign aligned with global norms, and the adoption of internal carbon pricing. Overall, the consensus at the Summit was that India is not merely aiming to be the pharmacy of the Global South but is positioning itself as a global preventive healthcare hub, a biotech innovation centre and a sustainable manufacturing leader. Achieving this vision will require strong regulatory reform, global-standard sustainability practices, digital integration, affordable innovation, a resilient domestic API ecosystem and deep public–private collaboration. As Dr. Jitendra Singh concluded, industry and government must work together to shape the future of pharma and healthcare in India.