As India-Pakistan tensions escalate, govt tells Pharmexcil to submit medicine export data on 'urgent' basis

Explaining the pharma networking between India and Pakistan, an official told News18 that Dubai is the hub for Indian goods. From here, several commodities including medicines and other pharma products are imported by Pakistan.

Is India planning to curb pharma exports to Pakistan? As the tensions escalate between two nations, New Delhi is mulling over raft of decisions to economically corner Islamabad in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack.

A News18 report says that the Department of Pharmaceuticals has asked the export body Pharmexcil to furnish details of medicines and other related products sold to Pakistan. The department, which works under the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, has sought key details from Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India on ‘urgent basis,’ the report said.

As per the report, latest data shows that Pakistan is on 38th spot in the India’s pharma exports market. This list comprises of 219 countries. As per the 2024 fiscal, New Delhi had exported $176.54 million worth of pharma goods to Islamabad. Fresh data puts this number to somewhere around $200 million.

Explaining the pharma networking between India and Pakistan, an official told News18 that Dubai is the hub for Indian goods. From here, several commodities including medicines and other pharma products are imported by Pakistan. Active pharmaceutical ingredients or bulk drugs are the major pharma export from India to Pakistan. While any curb by India won't impact the domestic trade, for Pakistan, this would mean rerouting APIs with pricey tag, the report added.