New Delhi, Mar 17 (KNN) Despite several disruptive events, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected to witness a revenue growth of 6-8 per cent in FY2024 against 3-4 per cent growth in FY2023, rating agency ICRA said on Thursday.

Structural factors such as ageing population and continued rise in lifestyle/chronic diseases, in addition to WPI-linked price hikes for NLEM products, new product introductions, and annual price hikes for non-NLEM products, are expected to support revenue growth for the industry, said Icra Assistant Vice President & Sector Head - Corporate Ratings Mythri Macherla said in a statement.

According to the report, the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) observed a healthy CAGR of 10.9 per cent between FY2012 and FY2022.

Since FY2018, IPM growth has largely been supported by price increases and new product introductions, even as volume growth remained between 2-3 per cent each fiscal, she said

Macherla pointed out that due to higher sales of anti-infectives, supported by price increases taken to offset raw material cost inflation, aided the overall IPM growth of 14.6 per cent in FY2022. However, given the high base, the volume contracted by 1.2 per cent for the nine-month period of FY2023.

As per reports, the drugs listed under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) make up for 17-18 per cent of the IPM, with some companies deriving around 30 per cent of their revenues from such medications

ICRA informed that e-pharmacies have gained significant traction in recent years and now account for 10-15 per cent of the IPM currently.  (KNN Bureau)