Market Profile: India

Although the Indian economy has garnered world attention with its importance in the IT and service sectors, the country has recently become far more prominent in industries that are strong sources of demand for analytical instrumentation. Foremost among these is the pharmaceutical industry, as India is now the fourth largest country in terms of production volume. Furthermore, it’s no longer valid to consider India as only a source of generic drugs. Multinational drug companies have opened R and D facilities in India, and the domestic pharmaceutical companies are close to bringing the first-ever Indian drug to market. Biotechnology is also being supported by foreign investment and government spending.

Market Demand in India Separation Technique

Life science research may be the biggest story, but it is not the only story. In an economy that has been growing 8-9% over the last few years, many Indian industries are thriving: metals and mining, cement, semiconductors, chemicals and petrochemicals. After years of relatively modest spending, government investment in science has also accelerated. In fact, the 2008-2009 budget calls for a 20% increase in the Ministry of Science and Technology, a prime source of research spending.

India is currently characterized by strong internal growth, strong growth in external investment, a large educated workforce, and a strong presence in industries that rely on analytical instruments, particularly the pharmaceutical industry. India has a small, but growing, domestic industry in the production of analytical instruments and equipment. Foreign investment not only affects the demand for instruments, but also the supply, as most if not all of the major multinational players in the instrument industry have established subsidiaries in the country, and are turning to India to outsource production of analytical instruments.

In 2004, separations technologies (HPLC, GC, IC, LPLC, CE and others) form the largest technology segment within the Indian analytical instrument market. While the global market is composed of many different individual techniques, the market in India is almost entirely restricted to HPLC and GC. Other separation technologies are important, but currently account for only a minor portion of the overall Indian demand

The foregoing data was extracted and adapted from SDi's Market Analysis and Perpectives (MAP) report, "Indian Instrument Demand and Production: Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright." For more information, contact Glenn Cudiamat, VP of Research Services, Strategic Directions International, Inc., 6242 Westchester Parkway, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90045, (310) 641-4982, fax: (310) 641-8851, e-mail: cudiamat@strategic-directions.com