Spotlight on SMEs in Pharma Sector: CSB Bank partners with CRISIL Market Intelligence & Key Industry Bodies for Conference in Hyderabad

(From L to R) : Mr. Manish Modi, Head-Wholesale Banking, CSB Bank; Mr. Manish Agarwal, Chief Credit Officer, CSB Bank; Mr Unnikrishnan K, Joint Director General, FIEO; Mr. K. Raja Bhanu, Director General, PHARMEXCIL; Mr. R. K. Agrawal, National President, BDMAI; Mr. Shyam Mani, Group Head, CSB Bank; and Mr. Prashant Laxmeshwar, Founder, SME Communities.

In continuation of its thought leadership initiative ‘SME InFocus’ targeted at the SMEs across various industry sectors, private sector lender CSB Bank partnered with CRISIL Market Intelligence & Analytics (MI&A), Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council Of India (PHARMEXCIL), Bulk Drugs Manufacturers Association of India (BDMAI) and SME Communities to organise the Hyderabad edition of its knowledge Series ‘SME InFocus’ on Pharmaceutical Industry for the SME entrepreneurs.

The Pharmaceutical Industry conference, organised in Hyderabad recently, saw the participation of SME decision makers from amongst the pharmaceutical and bulk drugs manufacturing segment. The highlights of the conference were an insightful presentation by the CRISIL MI&A team, that captured the latest trends and opportunities in the Pharmaceutical Industry with specific reference to bulk drugs manufacturing segment, as well as the captivating panel discussion and the subsequent industry interaction.

Key top executives from CSB Bank shared their insights from a banking perspective with the attending industry stalwarts comprising CEOs, Directors, Chairmen & over 100 other senior decision makers from the Hyderabad based SMEs across pharma industry verticals.

Mr. Shyam Mani, Group Head, CSB Bank, spoke on how the bank has been empowering SMEs in their growth journey and stands committed as a partner to the SME segment.

The event saw the presence of two pharma industry related government stakeholders in the form of regulator and foreign trade.

Mr. G. Ramdhan, Joint Director, Drugs Control Administration (DCA), Government of Telangana, spoke on how his department is committed to work with the industry, especially the SMEs, to ensure that precision and compliance in drug control is not just a responsibility – but a foundation of trust, safety and innovation in the Telangana based pharmaceutical industry.

Mr. Bharani V., Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, spoke briefly on how the compliance with DGFT regulations empowers Indian SME pharma exporters to expand globally, ensuring quality, reliability and trust in India’s pharmaceutical industry leadership.

The CRISIL MI&A team shared several industry insights on a host of topics like growth in domestic and export markets, China dependencies for key APIs, formulations market, contractual outsourcing, PLI schemes to enhance R&D capabilities, import substitution, CRO/CDMO segment growth and backward integration. A few long-term opportunities like competitive operating costs, bulk drug parks, PLI schemes, government support to improve drug quality and focus on specialty chemicals and complex generics were highlighted. More importantly, some challenges like logistics related constraints, lack of scale, high dependence on API imports and low R&D and technology adoption rates were also pointed out.

Mr. Manish Aggarwal, Chief Credit Officer, CSB Bank, thoughtfully outlined the credit philosophy of the bank to the SME promoters and stressed the need for an ongoing dialogue with the industry to better understand their industry cycles and borrowing requirements.

Mr. Manish Modi, Head Wholesale Banking, CSB Bank shared his thoughts on how banks can help the pharma and bulk drugs industry for their requirements across domestic offerings, cross border trade, forex risk management and specifically on how CSB Bank can help in these segments.

Mr. R K Agrawal, National President, Bulk Drugs Manufacturers Association of India (BDMAI) shared his insights as a SME bulk drug manufacturer on the key strengths of Indian SMEs in the pharma and bulk drugs industry that can help position India as a global leader. He also shared some of the current challenges that SMEs face in accessing affordable capital for capacity building and R&D and technology upgradation. Mr Agrawal also outlined various initiatives especially skill development, that are regularly undertaken by BDMAI to help the bulk drugs industry in increasing their manufacturing competitiveness.

Mr. Raja Bhanu, Director General, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council Of India (PHARMEXCIL) mentioned the policy initiatives being undertaken by the Government to support SMEs in the pharma sector in achieving sustainability goals. He also spoke on the role that Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes play in boosting SME contributions to the bulk drug industry, and how can their access to such schemes be improved.

Mr. Unnikrishnan K, Joint Director General, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) briefly enumerated the approval processes, regulatory clearances and tax incentives to encourage SME growth in the pharma sector. He also opined on how public-private partnerships can be strengthened to drive innovation, research, and export opportunities for SMEs. Mr Unnikrishnan also shared how FIEO works with industry and policy makers across various central and state government ministries to drive manufacturing competitiveness in the export segment.

Prominent members of industry bodies from Hyderabad who formed the bulk of the attending delegates wholeheartedly participated in the industry dialogue that formed the heart of the evening’s discussion.

Mr. Prashant Laxmeshwar, Founder, SME Communities moderated the panel discussion and thanked CSB Bank, CRISIL MI&A, FIEO, PHARMEXCIL & BDMAI for coming together for this important industry initiative.

The evening ended with Dr. PV Appaji, Hon. Advisor, Bulk Drugs Manufacturers Association of India (BDMAI) and Ex-Director General, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (PHARMEXCIL) thanking SME Communities for bringing together all the stakeholders across Bank, rating agency, industry bodies, drug control authority and DGFT on a single platform and ensuring a lively industry discussion that can help policy makers take note of the important challenges and opportunities for the SMEs in Indian pharma industry.