Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister JP Nadda said on Tuesday that India’s export of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in the last financial year was about Rs 41,500 crore, which is more than the total import of Rs 39,215 crore. Responding to a supplementary question during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister said that the Central Government has taken several steps in the last 11 years to promote domestic production and reduce imports. Let us also tell you what kind of figures have been presented by the Minister.
Presented export-import figures
India’s import of APIs (bulk drugs, drug intermediates) was Rs 36,229 crore in 2022-23, Rs 37,721 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 39,214 crore in 2024-25. There was import from China worth Rs 25,551 crore in 2022-23, Rs 27,055 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 29,064 crore in the last financial year. Nadda said that China’s share has increased from 70 percent in the last financial year to 74 percent by 2022-23. Nevertheless, the minister said that the export of API is more than the import. Nadda said that the export is Rs 41,493 crore and the import, which we are doing, is Rs 39,215 crore. Therefore, it should be very clear that we are exporting more APIs than we are importing. The Minister said that the Center has started the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme with an expenditure of Rs 6,940 crore.
Help is being received from PLI scheme
The minister said that anti-dumping duty and minimum import price have been fixed to maintain the market. Nadda said that the Center is taking all steps to make India self-reliant in the pharma sector. Under the PLI Scheme (commonly known as PLI Scheme for Bulk Drugs) to promote domestic manufacturing of essential KSMs/Drug Intermediates (DIs) and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in India, domestic manufacturing capacity of approximately 56,800 tonnes per annum has been created for 28 of the 41 identified essential products. This scheme has resulted in total sales of Rs 2,720 crore by December 2025, which includes exports of Rs 527.96 crore, due to which imports worth Rs 2,192.04 crore have been avoided. This scheme has also provided employment to 4,896 people by December 2025.