Economic Scenario of Bangladesh:
Bangladesh’s economy has increased by 271 times over 50 years. Concentrating on its traditional labor-intensive light manufacturing industry, Bangladesh is today the world’s second-largest clothing exporter behind China. It powered ahead with a traditional development strategy of simple export-oriented industrialization (EOI), the economic policy that was implemented with great success by the Asian Tigers. The bulk of Bangladesh’s exports pertain to the textiles, apparel and footwear industry – which are highly labor-intensive and employ unskilled and semi-skilled labour.
The country’s economic performance of Bangladesh during the pandemic years was recently recognized in Bloomberg’s COVID-19 resilience ranking, where it ranked 24th out of 53 economies in the world that are worth over $200 billion. The real marvel lies in the fact that even in FY’20, when economies around the world contracted as a result of pandemic lockdowns, Bangladesh managed a 5.24% growth.
Pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh:
Bangladesh has got the 17 years long extension till year 2033 by WTO / TRIPs to continue the patented pharma formulations. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most technologically advanced sectors currently in existence in Bangladesh. It has grown in the last two decades at a considerable rate. The skills and knowledge of the professionals and
innovative ideas of the people involved in this industry are the key factors for these developments. About 300 pharmaceutical companies are operating at the moment. Only 3% of the drugs are imported, the remaining 97% come from local companies. Positive developments in the pharmaceutical sector have enabled Bangladesh to export medicine
to global markets.
At present, Bangladesh's pharmaceutical industry is effectively exporting their products to 79 countries across the world, and this number is expected to increase in coming years. The local pharma market of Bangladesh is valued at around Taka 40,000 crore. More than 300 pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh with current exports worth USD 72+ million are anticipated to reach country’s pharma formulation exports USD 60 billion by 2021. These 300+ pharmaceutical multinational corporations operating in the country producing 97% of the local demands for drugs. With an annual double digit growth rate, the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh is heading towards complete self sufficiency in meeting local demand.
Opportunity for Indian Engineering Industry:
India - one of the strongest pharma-economy across the world has emerged as single point resource for Pharma Machineries and Engineering Equipments in the world pharma markets.
Looking to the role played by the Indian pharmaceutical industry in global markets, India is slowly turning in to a ‘Pharma Capital’ of the world. The regulatory standards are meeting the high level parameters ensuring very high quality pharma production meeting the international regulations. India meets 8.2% of Bangladesh’s import of pharma machineries as on 2020. Thus there lies a huge untapped market for India, which is yet to be explored. India needs to work more and intensify its trading agreement with Bangladesh. Thus India should find out opportunities to negotiate more trade deals with Bangladesh to increase its market share viz-a-viz China.
