Indian drugmakers likely to stay competitive as US tariffs loom, Dr Reddy’s says

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By Rishika Sadam

HYDERABAD (Reuters) – Indian drugmakers are likely to remain competitive in the generics market even as U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, Dr Reddy’s Managing Director GV Prasad said on Tuesday.

Trump has said he could impose duties of 25% or more on pharmaceutical imports and an announcement could be made by next month. The U.S. accounts for nearly a third of India’s pharma exports, mainly cheaper versions of popular drugs, with sales jumping 16% to about $9 billion last fiscal year.

The industry is still waiting for more clarity before taking any action, Prasad said on the sidelines of the BioAsia conference in the Southern Indian state of Telangana.

“In reality, to shift (the manufacturing of) all these products into the United States is not practical. They don’t have that much capacity, and their costs will rise. Even with tariffs, I think Indian and Chinese companies would be competitive.”

The tariffs would likely raise the costs for U.S. consumers or middlemen, he said.

Nandini Piramal, chairperson at Piramal Pharma, which provides contract manufacturing and development services, echoed Prasad’s comments on the lack of clarity.

“For us, our strategy is to be geography agnostic. If companies want to pay higher prices in the U.S. to make in the U.S., we’re very happy to help them do so.”

India’s drug industry has pinned its hopes on bilateral talks to earn an exception, though Trump has ruled out any such concession so far.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad; Writing by Manas Mishra; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sriraj Kalluvila)