Target set

New Delhi, Dec. 25 (PTI): The Planning Commission has set a target for the pharmaceutical industry to reach $100 billion by 2020 and account for a 5 per cent share of the global drug industry in the next five years.

According to the final draft of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, the objective of the sector will be to cross the $60-billion mark in 2017, which will be 5 per cent of the global pharma industry.

“By 2020, the sector should be at $100 billion,” it said. The industry is valued at $22 billion and is the third largest in terms of volume and thirteenth in terms of value globally.

According to the draft plan, exports of pharma products should rise to Rs 1.3 trillion by the end of the 12th plan. “The sector should employ 15 lakh people by 2015, 18.98 lakh by 2018 and 24.64 lakh people by 2022,” it added.

All the central public sector undertakings involved in manufacturing pharmaceutical products should be self-sustaining by 2020, the draft plan adds.