'Target pharmaceutical exports to West Asia'

India's pharma exports to West Asia, which is at Rs 263.9 crore in 2002-03, has tremendous growth potential and has not been fully exploited due to improper market access, language barriers, lack of market understanding and corruption, as per a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) survey.

"With growing population size, the consumers in Gulf Corporation Council have started feeling the pinch of high drug prices on their budgets. This has made the market ripe for entry by foreign companies which could supply high quality formulations at competitive prices", the survey said.

The survey on India's export potential of pharma products in West Asian countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman said Indian companies can take advantage of these opportunities to capture a much larger share of the medical equipment market in GCC countries.