Growth in domestic market likely to provide booster dose for pharma stocks

The pharma sector, once considered a safe bet, has been trailing the benchmark indices for four years in a row

The Nifty Pharma was the second biggest gainer among sectoral indices, rising 10.4 per cent on Tuesday. In addition to the market rally, analysts believe it will be among the few sectors to post strong revenue and profit growth in the March 2020 quarter.

Besides domestic demand, there could be higher export orders — not just for Covid-related drugs but also for other formulations. The sector, once considered a ‘safe bet’, has been trailing the benchmark indices for four years now. In CY19, for example, even as the benchmarks delivered 12 per cent returns, the health care index declined over 9