New Delhi raised concerns about the hurdles faced by its pharma exports to Australia, but welcomed Australia's decision to reverse the ban on selling uranium to India.

India, which is engaged with Australia in negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, also hoped to conclude the agreement by mid-2012.

In a meeting, a senior official said Australia's decision on uranium was in line with the strategic nature of the relationship between the two countries. However, an Indian official pointed out that India's pharmaceutical exports to Australia require approvals from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, whose approval process is a long and expensive one. There is no recognition or concession to Indian companies with FDA approval or GMP certificate, he said.

Officials suggested using the services of Australian professionals for drawing out a standard to be followed by the Indian companies, to in turn help them get permission to export their medicines to Australia.

Indian Pharma industry, which is facing tough competition from China in terms of cheaper Active Pharma Ingredients (APIs), will now concentrate on generic finished product exports to that country, according to Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

The government has constituted a sub-committee, under the chairmanship of joint secretary to look into the product registration in China, present status and hurdles. China is being taken up as a challenge, a senior official said.

This year, it is expected to grow at 20 per cent growth, despite Rupee depreciation against US Dollar. Meanwhile, Bio-Asia 2012 will be held in Hyderabad from February 9-11. BioAsia 2012 will focus on the four key areas of the host country's strengths- Vaccines, Contract Research, Investments and Intellectual Property Rights.

With a view to strengthen its ties with the middle eastern regions, the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) organised a high level business meet with the delegates from the Middle Eastern countries in Mumbai recently. This is the first time that Pharmexcil had organised such an interactive session with the Middle Eastern countries, to promote pharma exports to these regions.

A senior official of Pharmexcil informed that the Council had organised this meet strategically, keeping in mind to exploit business opportunities arising out of the CPhI event in Mumbai from November 30 to December 2.

About 50 delegates from United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Jordan had participated in this buyer-seller meet, where they met and interacted with 150 Indian manufacturers from the small and medium scale pharma industries from across the country.

The representatives from these countries had detailed discussions with their Indian counterparts during the two-day meet, where they had one-to-one interaction with the other to explore business opportunities in future. In fact, the foreign delegates acknowledged that they were very impressed by the capabilities of the Indian manufacturers to supply quality medicines at affordable rates and stressed on strengthening their business ties.

As per the data provided by Pharmexcil, India has 30 per cent of market share in the Asian market out of which 10 per cent comes from Middle Eastern countries alone. Dr Appaji added that since Middle Eastern countries have a lot of export potential it should be tapped appropriately by the Indian companies to expand their business in these regions.