API Manufacturers in India: an overview
India exported USD 4,869.98 million of bulk drugs and drug intermediates in FY2024-25, according to Pharmexcil's figures based on DGCIS data. That was about 16% of the country's USD 30,466.85 million in pharmaceutical exports, with finished formulations making up most of the rest. Imports are more concentrated. In a March 2026 written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the government listed APIs and intermediates for which China supplied 70% or more of India's imports. They include 6-APA, the starting material for penicillin antibiotics, at USD 407.64 million in FY2024-25 with 95.92% from China, and ibuprofen at 80.73%.
The Production Linked Incentive scheme for bulk drugs has an outlay of ₹6,940 crore and pays incentives on 41 notified starting materials, intermediates and APIs made in new plants. By December 2025, 48 projects had been approved and 38 of them, covering 28 products, had started production, adding about 56,800 tonnes a year of capacity. A separate ₹3,000 crore scheme is funding three bulk drug parks in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, with ₹1,000 crore of central support for each. Aurobindo's Penicillin-G plant at Kakinada began production in July 2025, and the company expects annual output above 10,000 tonnes.
Most of the companies below make their APIs in a few clusters. The largest is around Hyderabad and along the coast near Visakhapatnam: Divi's runs units near Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, Laurus has most of its API units in Visakhapatnam, and Hyderabad-based MSN reports 19 API facilities. In Maharashtra, Aarti Drugs, Anuh Pharma and Ipca make APIs at MIDC Tarapur. Gujarat has Alivus's plants at Ankleshwar and Dahej and Concord Biotech's fermentation plants at Dholka and Limbasi. IOL Chemicals makes ibuprofen in two dedicated units at a single site in Barnala, Punjab.