INDIA NEWS
May 16-31, 2022 - Vol 2, Issue 21
MAKE IN INDIA
Make in India: Investment opportunities As world economies restart their engines in a bid to regain lost ground due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India too shows signs of economic buoyancy and promise. India’s Make in India initiative holds a key to the global economic revival, something that should interest Australian government ministries, corporate sector, entrepreneurs, institutions seeking R&D collaborations and Australia Inc in general, among others. India assumes greater importance as several major world economies including American, Japanese, German, British and South Korean look to move out and diversify their businesses from China. India has jumped to 63rd rank in the World Bank’s Ease of Development 2020 report, and has also been ranked as the 9th largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment destination in 2019 by the World Investment Report 2020 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
My New India Story: Countering Rogue Drones By Ankita Sharma & Anagh Singh Technology is neither moral nor immoral. It is said to be amoral and revelatory. Technology per se is a value-neutral resource and proposition. The future battlespace will be shaped by technology and technological superiority will determine the outcome of future battles. It is therefore essential that technological self-reliance remains the mantra for the future and a collective national effort be initiated to achieve this in the quickest possible time ensuring that technological developments are commensurate with our desired military capability. This underlying philosophy stands true in the realm of drones and their usage. Harnessing the usage of drones on a malignant tangent has called for the development of counter-drone systems. Counter-drone technology, also known as counter-UAS, C-UAS, or counter-UAV technology, refers to systems that are used to detect and/or disable unmanned aircraft. As concerns mount around the potential security threats that drones may pose to both civilian and military entities, a new market for counter-drone
technology is rapidly emerging. Drones are also increasingly becoming a weapon of choice for non-state groups that employ this technology for surveillance, battlespace management, propaganda, and aerial strike attacks, often too considerable. As a result of the proliferation of this technology, which is set to expand in the years ahead, counter-drone systems will become a ubiquitous. Drones today are being used by anti-state elements and nefarious players in the neighborhood to attack important installations, smuggle narcotics, weapons, etc. into the country. In March 2021, the Ministry
of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Government of India, notified Liberalized Drone Rules, 2021. In view of its traditional strengths in innovation, information technology, frugal engineering, and huge domestic demand, India has the potential to be a global drone hub by 2030. The rise of C-UAS technology is largely tied to the novel threats posed by the expanding use of drones— particularly small, inexpensive systems—in civilian and wartime environments. In the military domain, small drones have been proliferating at a rate that has alarmed battlefield commanders and planners alike.
Economic dimensions of an emergent Ayush sector in India In a bid to popularize traditional Indian medicinal products and therapies in the domestic and global market and develop the country as a hub for such commodities and services, the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit was conducted to highlight the possibilities for innovation, investment, and the scope for the sector’s growth via a knowledgesharing platform and further initiate efforts to establish solution-oriented and robust technologies to utilize traditional Indian medicine. At the outset, the summit witnessed significant investor interest, policy discourse around key industrial challenges, and stakeholder meetings to lay emphasis on the promotion of alternate medicine in the country, making traditional medicines and medical practices more accessible and popular. The summit resulted in an investment commitment of about INR 9,000 crore across major
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categories like FMCG, medical value travel (MVT) and services, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, technology, and diagnostics. During the summit, more than 70 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed between countries, prestigious research institutes, farmers' groups, and industry. The commitment is expected to generate over 5.56 lakh employment opportunities in the country. A significant highlight that took the forefront at the summit revolved around the need to utilize modern technology to validate the sector, while holding the foundational spirit of these practices in place. The Summit further aimed at initiating a dialogue around the opportunities for Ayush in boosting the Medical Value Travel to India. The Ayush industry is booming with a strong global demand size of $ 657.5 Bn in 2020 and global exports of $ 31.0 Bn in 2019. The sector has shown
immense growth over the past couple of years with a projected turnover of $ 20.6 Bn in 2022. The country’s MSMEs of this sector are catching up in terms of profits and research and development expenditures and the leading Ayush manufacturing states have successfully completed the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) reforms, including Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. These efforts have been materialised in an exponential rise in the recognition of Ayush as a system of medicine and wellness in India and the world, surging global demand for Ayush products and services, particularly since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, owing to the growing domestic and global consumer preference for herbal products and herbs based medical treatments,
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The Rise and Rise of Indian Pharmaceuticals Industry By Ishita Sirsikar and Srijata Deb, Strategic Investment Research Unit (SIRU) The persistent COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the significance of a strong domestic pharmaceutical sector in any economy. It is imperative to have strong manufacturing for pharma products, accompanied with robust infrastructure and USA, UK, South Africa, Russia marketing linkages, to provide and Nigeria. It is further pivotal accessible and affordable to highlight that around 55 per pharmaceuticals to the domestic cent of our pharma exports cater and global customers. India, to highly regulated markets. in this regard, has done Moreover, Indian pharma exceptionally well. Despite several companies have a substantial lockdowns and public health share in the prescription market challenges, the sector has shown in the US and EU. India has the immense growth in domestic and largest number of Food and Drug global production. Administration (FDA) approved plants, after US and EU. The The sector witnessed a growth investments in this sector have of 103 per cent in its exports also remained unhindered. since 2013-14, from INR 90, 415 During the first wave of the crores in 2013-14 to INR 1,83,422 pandemic, the country saw FDI crores in 2021-22. The exports inflow of $ 397 million in the attained in 2021-22 have been pharmaceutical sector. flagged as the sector’s best export performance ever. This shows a The stellar performance of remarkable growth with exports the Indian pharma industry, growing by almost $ 10 billion despite the ongoing pandemic, in 8 years. The pharma exports has been owed to the domestic in 2021-22 sustained a positive manufacturing excellence, growth despite the global trade strong infrastructure, cost disruptions and drop in demand competitiveness, continued for COVID related medicines, investment, entrepreneurship owing to the dip in infections and efforts and rapid innovations positivity rates. The extraordinary that the sector has witnessed. exports growth has been The current market size of the achieved combating the frequent Indian pharmaceutical industry is lockdowns and global supply around $ 50 billion. chain disruptions. The domestic Indian pharma companies industry additionally played a enabled by their price pivotal role in fighting against competitiveness and good quality, the Covid-19 pandemic and have made a global mark, with 60 positioning itself as a reliable and per cent of the world’s vaccines undeviating partner in dealing and 20 per cent of generic with a global health crisis. The medicines coming from India. Indian vaccine industry developed In furtherance to this, the sector Covid vaccine with indigenous is making strides in enhancing technology in collaboration with its global access. For instance, India’s research institution like as a part of the country’s trade ICMR and NIV within record time, agreements, India has signed on par with highly developed cooperation agreements with UAE countries like America and EU. and Australia. This will not only Additionally, the country ranks widen the global audience for 3rd for production by volume and domestic pharma products, but 14th by value in the global market. will also provide greater insight The share of pharmaceutical into product enhancement and and drugs in our global exports enable a knowledge sharing base is 5.92 per cent. Formulations for innovation and investments, and biologicals continue to and global stakeholders, while account for a major share of 73.31 focusing on the strengths of the per cent in our total exports, sector for better innovations in followed by bulk drugs and drug product development. intermediates with exports of Source: Invest India, Government $ 4437.64 million. India’s top 5 of India pharma export destinations are
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