India can beat China if the country adds efforts to increase production in the field of pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering goods, and chemicals. The weak competition from the dragon can make India a potential trade beneficiary in the current situation. “This is also an opportunity for India to present itself as a serious alternative to China as an investment destination, according to the March 2020 report by Brickwork Ratings. This would, however, require embarking on structural reforms to present India as an attractive investment destination. As the epidemic has engulfed many countries in its ambit, ramping up the production and exports of certain products may help India climb the ladder.
Pharmaceutical industry
The Indian pharma industry has outsmarted other industries as even amid a major slowdown, it has grown by nearly a rate of 10 per cent so far. Also, the Indian pharma industry has recently got another reason to cheer after Afghanistan recognised the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) – Indian standards of drugs – formally by its health department. This has also marked a new beginning for the domestic pharma sector as Afghanistan becomes the first country to approve such recognition by the National Department of Regulation of Medicines and Health Products of the Ministry of Public Health of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Chemical industry
India’s chemical industry is estimated at $163 billion in FY18 and it is estimated to grow at about 9 per cent per annum to reach USD 304 billion by FY25, according to FICCI. Also, the growth rate (CAGR) in the production of chemical and petrochemical sector in the past decade was 5.57 per cent, D V Sadananda Gowda, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers said in a reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
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Meanwhile, the move will not only take India to a higher spot globally but it will also pull out the domestic industry from a deep ongoing slowdown and weak economic growth. The pessimism about the growth scenario comes from the fact that virtually every sector of the economy has shown deceleration or stagnancy except the agriculture and financial, real estate and professional services, the report added. In fact, with two successive quarters of contraction, the industrial sector seems to be in recession, it further added.
