The Indian pharma industry was dominated by imported machines during the sixties and seventies The move from being an import-dependent sector to indigenous engineering companies received an impetus due to foreign exchange shortages. The government imposed heavy import duties and restrictive import licensing policies. which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because thts brought to the fore India's own engineering minds. who soon started making pharma machinery at much more cost effective rates.

In value terms, there are more machines being imported today than exported. but in terms of quantity, it is reverse This is because imported machines are more than seven to eight times the value of the Indian machines. We still do not make machines requiring high technology and also lab equipment required for R&D labs, therefore we still need to import these machines.

Those who import pharma machinery are setting up world class facilities to export products / formulations, therefore they need to have imported machines as these meet these standards. This is a niche market.

The demand for lab and R&D facility machinery is very low, but at the same time, it requires high investment to develop this equipment. Putting up such infrastructure cannot be justified if the demand is not so high. Therefore, we still import this segment of equipment.

In one word, value for money. Indian machineries are extremely competitive and have a good price – performance ratio. Secondly, Indian pharma machinery manufacturers have not yet got into the culture of strictly adhering to contracts. So we give better after sales service, going beyond the Annual Maintenance Contracts. We are very flexible for customers in terms of deliveries, contractual terms, etc. Foreign manufacturers do not give such support to pharma manufacturers. These are our major strengths.

Up to 2004-05, Italy, Germany, South Korea were our main competitors. In recent years, there has been a lot of interest and activity from Chinese suppliers of pharma machineries. It is still at the initial stage but there is sizable penetration of Chinese suppliers into the Indian market. But we have learnt that not all Chinese manufacturers are good, some are bad manufacturers. In certain categories like distillation plants required for sterile products, you would not take a chance with Chinese manufacturers because you have to be sure of the results. They have a mass manufacturing capacity; they can make 200-300 machines in one go, while we can go only upto ten at a time. That is the huge difference. Labour is cheap, raw material is cheaper, unlike in India. But they do not have high-end technology. But it is definitely a source of worry for our industry.

The biggest issue is that there is very low investment in R&D. Secondly, the manufacturers do not work together and therefore it is a fragmented industry, of small scale manufacturers. One of the agendas of IPMMA was to unite the industry, but unfortunately we have not been able to do this very successfully. We have not been able to economically scale up and invest in R&D in a bigger way. If we were to cooperate in marketing and R&D efforts, this could become a reality.

Another issue is the lack of trained manpower. This was not the scenario earlier but nowadays it is a worry. Salaries have risen and this makes it difficult for small scale manufacturers to attract and afford skilled and trained manpower.

Another unfortunate issue is that we cannot attract international manufacturer for high value, high tech products to have Joint ventures, for technology transfers. For this, we are continuously working on improving the brand image of our products and industry but it is a problem.

In the engineering space, we have been able to overcome this perception to same extent. For instance, Pharmalab has a tie up with a Finnish company called Elomatic for engineering design. Pharmalab get technical support fromthem and do the engineering design here in India as this works oit much cheaper. So this has worked out well as Pharmalab has the support of a European brand name.

Role of an organization, like Indian Pharma Machinery Manufacturers Association in present scenario:

WE at IPMMA, work for the benefit of pharma machinery manufacturers and encourage small-scale manufacturers.IPMMA has now. around 245 members across the country. We are now getting recognition and are in dialogue with similar industry associations on the international scene.

We also work together with the Central government office on certain issues For instance, when Pakistan has banned import of indian pharma machinery, we along with the Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC), made a presentation to the Pakistan government and as a result, half of the machines were dropped from the list of banned equipment . We continue to work on getting approval for those items still on the list.

In addition, we circulate international trade enquiries to all IPMMA members and also ensure maintenance of fair business practices in the industry. We have a presence at major exhibitions dealing with this sector; in 2007 it self we have around seven -eight major exhibitions like the upcoming P-MEC India. We work with ITPO on this. Many international players are coming to the exhibitions. At P-MEC India, we requested a buyer-seller meet and the German association VDMA is also colaborating with us.

We also organise seminars to help industry professionals. For instance, we antcipated that Indian pharma machinery professionals will meet with international players at P-MEC India. So to help them deal with the documentation requirement IPMMA in association with PnceWaterhouse Coopers, organised a seminar for joint ventures, marketing tie-ups This is a art of a continuous process

We need support from the government for exports and to give incentives for increasing R&D investments. The government can also play a role in encouraging technology transfers and tie-ups.

What we also lack is a pharma engineering college. We have many pharmacy colleges but no pharma engineering college. So we have been working with the Bombay College of Pharmacy, at Kalina. Mumbai and are giving them inputs for the course materials on pharma engineering. The present scenario is that we take on interested students from the Bombay College of Pharmacy  and train them. as interns, on-the-job at our company in the pharma engineering aspects to fill the gaps. But this will not work out on a long-term basis. Similarly an engineering graduate has to learn the pharma aspects of the job. So such course will be helpful for the pharma industry. This will most probably be incorporated from the next academic year .

There is no demand supply gap, in terms of volumes. We are able to meet the needs of the industry. Around a year and a half ago, we were overloaded with orders and everyone has increased their capacities. What we do have to do is keep pace with the rapidly changing technology on the international scene. For that we have to invest in R&D, build the brand. We also need to enter into and technology transfers. We need to have marketing tie-ups internationally so that we can increase our volumesand scale up These efforts are on, but we need to do much more.

We need upgrade to newer technologies, to increase levels of automation. We also need to improve documentation. On the documentation front, we are requesting personnel from pharmacy colleges to train industry professionals in better documentation techniques.