Fund managers bet on pharma sector as pricing pressure in US is stabilising

The Indian pharma sector has many attractive opportunities before it, such as the growing adoption of generic drugs in developed markets

The pharma and health care sectors have not been market favourites. Over the past five years, the Nifty Pharma Index has given a compound annual return of -3.27 per cent compared to the Nifty 50’s 7 per cent. Experts, however, say that the worst is behind the sector now and investors with a three- to five-year horizon can earn good returns from it.

A major headwind for the sector was US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) regulations. Plants of many pharma majors failed to pass inspections, and were barred from supplying to the US market. “Indian pharma players are more