New Delhi: India’s pharmaceutical industry should focus on both generic and innovative products, as well as develop products specifically tailored to the needs of the country’s patients. Pharma leaders said at India Pharma 2026 on Tuesday that domestic companies, especially small to medium-sized companies, can play a stronger role in rare diseases and specific patient areas, where agility and specialized research can drive meaningful breakthroughs. “Given India’s huge and diverse disease burden, this approach is necessary. Also, the creation of a parallel market to reimburse innovative treatments through insurance, government support or alternative financing models will be important to ensure that successful treatments are developed,” said Pankaj Patel, former FICCI president and chairman of Zydus Lifesciences. Elaborating on the long-term vision of developing 100 new medicines by 2047, he said, this will require a significant increase in research and development investment from the current 6-7% of turnover to 12-15%. Additionally, the Research Development Innovation (RDI) Fund is expected to become operational this year with the recent appointment of two fund managers, including BIRAC, which could be significant. Announced as a Rs 1 lakh crore scheme last year, and run by the Department of Science and Technology and Research through the National Research Foundation (ANRF), the initiative is expected to take off this year with the appointment of two fund managers. ANRF Chief Executive Officer, Shivakumar Kalyanaraman, outlined the evolving research funding architecture, saying it combines grant-based support for academic and non-profit institutions with capital-based instruments for the private sector. Aniruddha Roy Popli, partner at McKinsey, emphasized that investing in innovation can yield returns up to four times, making a strong case for increasing funding across the entire ecosystem. Additionally, Sunil Thakur, Partner and IC Member, Quadria Capital and Co-Founder of HealthQuad, pointed out that despite strong fundamentals, the lack of deep venture capital and a strong exit ecosystem remains a significant barrier to scaling up pharmaceutical innovation in the country.
