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With about 10 novel drug molecules in as many years, the momentum is building for innovation in India’s pharmaceutical and lifesciences sector, says a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and HealthKois. But there remain gaps in the funding, and research ecosystem that still need to be fixed, it points out.
Companies are pursuing multiple pathways to compete globally, the report said, pointing to Glenmark’s outlicensing deal with AbbVie that brought in an upfront payment of $700 million, with up to $1.2 billion in milestone payments, and CAR-T therapies developed by startups like ImmunoACT, among others.
“The innovation pipeline expanded approximately 1.5x to more than 1,095 drug discovery programs across 195 companies, while pharma patent families originating from India climbed from roughly 716 in 2015 to 2,995 in 2024, lifting India’s share of global pharma patents from 3–4 percent to about 10 percent,” the report said, adding that the shift was qualitative.
Four enabling features contributing to this shift included, the $5 billion-odd government funding for early-stage and translational research; academia - industry partnerships and technology-transfers; regulatory reform collapsing drug-development timelines from 180–270 days to 60–120; and shared research and development (R&D) and manufacturing infrastructure such as Genome Valley and C-CAMP, the report said. “Early proof points of lab-to-market translation are already visible — including BIRSA 101, India’s first indigenously developed CRISPR-based therapeutic, and NexCAR19, priced at roughly one-tenth of comparable overseas CAR-T therapies,” it added.
Private equity and venture capital investment in pharma rose 2.1x in five years to $ 731 million for the year ended March 2026, and biotech startups grew from roughly 1,500 to 2,400, the report said.
Funding gaps
India conducts only about 4 percent of global clinical trials, and annual pharmaceutical R&D spending remains at $ 2 to 3 billion compared with $70 to 75 billion in the United States, the report noted. “Access to early-stage, patient capital — with only 10 to 15 percent of Indian venture capital firms possessing deep pharma and biotech expertise compared with roughly 60 percent in the US — remains a priority,” it added.
Priyanka Aggarwal, Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG India and Southeast Asia Leader (Healthcare Practice) said, there was a shift in ambition “from replication to origination, and from process excellence to scientific discovery.” But converting that potential will require “specialist biotech capital, deepening academia–industry partnerships, creating fast-track regulatory pathways, and bridging the talent gap in R&D and innovation,” she added.
Ajay Mahipal, Co-Founder and General Partner, HealthKois said, “India is building a differentiated advantage by combining cost, data and scientific talent in ways few countries can match.” HealthKois (Fund III) is a $300 million India-focused healthcare innovation and impact fund, led by Charles Janssen, Ajay Mahipal, and Dr Pinak Shrikhande,
The report was based on 30-plus interviews with founders, pharmaceutical executives, investors in India and overseas, together with analysis of patents, venture investments, innovation pipelines and global datasets, it said.
Published on July 15, 2026
English (US) ·