Interview

'Outsourcing is becoming increasingly important for the survival of large pharma'

M Gandhi, Managing Director, UBM India, highlights the important trends visible before the launch of the CPhI, ICSE and P-MEC-India and also a brief on the pre registrations, in conversation with Arshiya Khan

P-MEC made its India debut last year with around 300 companies as participants. What are your expectations this year?

This year in total both CPhI and P-MEC put together, we are looking at about 700 exhibitors, which is slightly above last year. Many companies have taken a larger space this year and the pre bookings have given a good response. Last year during the pre booking itself we had almost 75 percent of the space booked. So this is an indication of how much popular these people want to become. Therefore in numbers it is a 10 percent growth. The number of exhibitors has also increased by 10 percent. Individual exhibitors have taken a bigger space. For example from the P-MEC side it is Cadmach Machinery which has a bigger space. Plus from the international exhibitor's side we have Marchesini who last year had a smaller space, 110 square metres and this year they have 200 plus square metres. So they have doubled their bookings this year. Then there is MG2 which is a big machinery company in the world market and is exhibiting here. They are coming here for the first time.

Please share details of the number of stalls, expected exhibitors and visitors that we will see at this year's event. Is there an increase and reasons for the same?

The net area for CPhI and ICSE is 9990 sq meters, of which ICSE India is 486 sq meters. There is an increase of 10 percent from the previous year. And for P-MEC we have an area of 12200 sq meters, which is an increase of seven percent from the previous year. We are expecting 700 exhibitors this year. At this point we already have close to 595 (358 exhibitors for CPhI and ICSE of which 166 are international exhibitors and 237 exhibitors from the P-MEC side of which 82 are international exhibitors). We have 19 countries participating for CPhI and ICSE whereas 11 countries for P-MEC. There is an increase of 10 percent from the previous year. We are expecting close to around 27000 visitors this year.

Do you think there will be a change in the categories of exhibitors, from outsourcing which was more prevalent the previous year? Which areas/segments according to you are likely to pick up pace and why?

Outsourcing will continue to increase; this is how we foresee it. We are talking about ICSE, which is the exhibition within P-MEC and CPhI which focuses on outsourcing and this sector is continuing to attract attention, both in terms of exhibitors and visitors. We are looking at an increase of 20 percent in this sector alone. In fact compared to CPhI and P-MEC, ICSE has seen a larger increase. Last year although we had ICSE, we did not have a separate area, exhibitors could choose any area, but this year we have branded it. And we have got a good response in terms of area booked and companies coming in.

Besides this, I think machinery will continue to be important for the basic reason that India is becoming quite strong in machinery manufacturing, as well as the other parts of the ingredients as well. I think the major difference between CPhI in Europe, China or other parts of the world compared to here in India is that CPhI Europe majorly focuses on ingredients and machinery is a very small part. But in India it is about equal. So technology and machines occupy nearly half the space, and I think that trend will continue and that will be a major differentiation factor between our event and other events in other parts of the world.

What has been the participation of trade bodies and how will it help the exhibition to become a success?

There are two important organisations we are working with. For CPhI it is Pharmexcil. The second organisation that is related to P-MEC is The Indian Pharmaceutical Machinery Manufacturers' Association (IPMMA). Where IPMMA has decided to support one event per year and they have chosen P-MEC. By doing so they ensure that they concentrate on one event and all the international exhibitors can come and see the same and meet the major manufacturers of machinery in India. The others supporting the event are Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) and Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA). We also have Association of Pharmaceutical Producers of Nepal (APPON) and Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) from the last year. Then we also have the support of Indian Analytical Instruments Association (IAIA), which was not there last year. Besides IAIA and IPMMA, others are buyer associations. They send their delegations and are also invited them to come here during the exhibition and organise their meetings.

What opportunities arise out of the trend towards outsourcing?

Outsourcing is becoming increasingly important for the survival of large pharma companies all over the world, whether it is manufacturing or clinical research. In fact outsourcing in clinical research is becoming extremely important. Outsourcing in R&D is also becoming important because of the cost effectiveness of India. Whether it is improving or not it is a must for all MNCs and if they don't do it they will go out of business because the competitors have started doing it. So I think India has a fantastic opportunity of this trend. India is not only cost effective but also has the expertise compared to other countries in the world. There are many Indian companies who are into clinical research and outsourcing these days.

The other area I see major advantage that India has over others is those drugs that are not given priority in the US. These are the drugs which do not have a large volume, so large drug companies do not find it viable to develop it. And therefore Indian companies can take advantage of this. This is a niche market and not many large pharma companies are addressing this. The way I see is that the development and opportunity is either in going in partnership with large pharma companies, which is what is happening now.

Last year saw the participation of many foreign delegations and industry associations. Which are the confirmed delegations in this category this year?

Till today we have delegations from Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Cameroon, Nepal and Turkey. We are trying for more foreign delegations and countries especially the Middle East, Southern America, Syria Jordan etc.

Will VDMA be conducting seminars concurrently with P-MEC India, like they did last year? Any other associations as well?

VDMA is not conducting any seminars this year. However we have a seminar in cooperation with IAIA on 'Isolation-India marching into the future'

What has been the role of media and the industry?

We have an excellent partnership with the media right from day one when we launched this exhibition. And we would like to be with them. It is not about partners or suppliers, we always believe in a long term relation ship and to develop that in its full strength. Our vision of bringing this exhibition when we started three years back it is coming true because of the support of the government, industry, organisations, individual companies and the media like yourself (Express Pharma is the Exclusive Media Partner of PMEC India 2008). Besides this we continuously have meetings to understand what is the requirement of the industry and then position the event to be in line with the policies and directions of both the government and the industry.

arshiya.khan@expressindia.com