India's pharmaceutical sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience in 2026, with the top 10 companies sustaining positive volume growth throughout the year despite challenging market conditions. According to Business Standard analysis of PharmaTrac data, the simple average of moving annual total (MAT) unit growth for companies ranked among the top 10 remained between 1.49% and 1.99% from January to August 2026. The top 10 companies in August included Sun Pharma, Cipla, Abbott, Mankind Pharma, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories, Intas Pharmaceuticals, Lupin, Zydus Lifesciences and Dr Reddy's Laboratories. Cipla emerged as the strongest performer with MAT unit growth ranging from 7% to 9.6% during January-August, while Sun Pharma's unit growth rose from 3.4% in January to 4.3% in August. The overall Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) has strengthened in value terms, with MAT value growth accelerating from 8% in January to 10.4% in August.
The pharmaceutical sector is experiencing a fundamental transformation as the market shifts towards chronic and sub-chronic therapies. According to Business Standard analysis, chronic and sub-chronic therapies together accounted for around 56% of the IPM in February, up from 53% in 2022, while acute therapies' share declined to 44% from 47%. Chronic therapies are growing at an estimated five-year compound annual growth rate of 12%, compared with 6% for acute therapies. As Veda Halve from Primus Partners explained, 'changing dynamics of the IPM indicate a strong shift from stable, seasonal demand-driven acute therapies to lifestyle-driven non-communicable diseases that are more chronic and sub-chronic in nature'. Larger companies are benefiting from this transition through their strong brands, broad portfolios, and greater exposure to fast-growing chronic therapies such as cardiac, anti-diabetic, respiratory and CNS treatments.
The newly opened Semaglutide market has provided a significant boost to major pharmaceutical companies through their existing GLP-1 manufacturing capabilities. According to Business Standard analysis, PharmaTrac's March data showed Dr Reddy's, Zydus, Lupin, Sun Pharma and Torrent among companies with semaglutide brands, alongside Emcure, Alkem, USV and Glenmark. By end-March, it was tracking 26 semaglutide brands from 13 companies. Veda Halve noted that 'the newly opened Semaglutide market was readily occupied by the major players, who had existing GLP-1 manufacturing capability with large-scale sales and distribution forces', giving them a substantial volume-based growth advantage. New product launches have also contributed significantly, with IPM growth estimated at 12.1% as of July, of which 3.8% came from new product launches.
Indian manufacturing experts emphasized the critical need for India to transition from volume-focused assembly to high-value manufacturing capabilities. According to reports from Business Standard, Pallavi Verma, an Indian Administrative Service officer working with Guidance Tamil Nadu, stated that India must move beyond high-volume assembly to focus on high-value manufacturing. The focus should not just be on 'making in India' but also for 'making in India for the world', as highlighted at the Semicon India conference in New Delhi. This strategic shift aligns with India's ambitious goal to contribute 25% of GDP by 2047, requiring manufacturing sector growth of 15% annually. The pharmaceutical sector, which ranks third globally by volume and eleventh by value, exporting to 191 countries with ₹4.72 lakh crore sector turnover, faces particular risks as over 50% of exports are directed to highly regulated markets like the United States and Europe.
India's manufacturing transformation faces mounting challenges from geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions that require strategic resilience through tolerating inefficiency for system-level protection. Recent events around the Red Sea, Strait of Hormuz and wider Gulf shipping corridors have highlighted critical vulnerabilities, with industry reports showing doubled freight charges and shipment surcharges of $4,000 to $8,000 per shipment for Indian pharma exporters. The pharmaceutical sector's PLI scheme has created capacity for 28 of 41 targeted products with ₹5,070.45 crore cumulative investment by March 2026. However, product-level trade data reveals persistent concentration: China accounts for 99.86% of India's streptomycin imports, 99.72% of gentamicin, and 97.48% of neomycin - all critical APIs on the PLI target list. Industry experts emphasize that geopolitical uncertainty is no longer an external event that occasionally interrupts business - it is becoming a design condition for supply chains, requiring strategic redundancy through meaningful dual sourcing, multi-geography thinking, and digital visibility systems.
