India's pharma market grows 7.8% in April, led by chronic therapies

Chronic therapies and price increases drove 7.8 per cent growth in India's pharma market in April 2025, with cardiac and gastrointestinal segments showing double-digit value gains

The Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) grew 7.8 per cent in April this year, with almost all major therapies showing positive value growth, according to market research firm Pharmarack. 

 

India Ratings and Research said the continued revenue growth was driven by companies' price hikes, with volume growing 1.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). 

 

“India Ratings expects IPM to grow 7-8% Y-o-Y during the financial year 2025-26 (FY26) with sustained growth momentum in the chronic therapies, led by price increases and product launches”, said Nishith Sanghvi, director, corporate ratings, India Ratings. 

 

Therapies such as cardiac and gastrointestinal, accounting for nearly 25 per cent of the overall domestic market, recorded value growth of

11 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively. 

 

Several super groups, such as urology and antineoplastics, which made up 2 per cent each of the IPM’s sales value for the month, also recorded double-digit growth.  

 

Sheetal Sapale, vice-president (commercial) at Pharmarack, said that the price growth and new introductions drove the growth in April, with a negligible volume rise.   

 

“The IPM also reported a positive 1.3 per cent unit growth during the month, with the cardiac and antidiabetic segments performing better than the overall market figure,” she added. 

 

Analysis suggests that the antidiabetic segment saw a 4.3 per cent rise in volume sales in April due to a key drug, empagliflozin, going off-patent, as companies launched several plain and combination medications in the segment.

 

Growth in the moving annual turnover (MAT) for IPM between April 2024 and March 2025 stood at 8.3 per cent, leading to a total turnover of over ₹2.27 trillion, while volumes in the domestic market grew by 1.3 per cent.

 

 The MAT of leading therapy areas such as cardiac, gastrointestinal, and anti-infectives, which constitute around 38 per cent of the pharmaceutical market, showed robust volume growth at 10.6 per cent, 10.1 per cent, and 6.5 per cent, respectively.

 

 While top players registered modest monthly value growth in the domestic market during the month, players such as P&G (20.1 per cent), Bayer (15.9 per cent), La Renon (14.6 per cent), Torrent (14.1 per cent), and Sun Pharma (13.7 per cent) posted significant monthly value growth.

 

 USV’s anti-diabetic drug Glycomet GP and Himalaya’s Liv 52 continued to be the top-selling medicine brands for the month, with sales of ₹ 74 crore and ₹ 72 crore, respectively, according to Pharmarack.