Data and sources
Every number on this site traces to a government statistical agency or a public filing. This page sets out which source, measured on what basis, and as at what date — so that any figure can be checked against the body that issued it.
This is a snapshot, not a feed. The figures below were compiled as at the dates stated and are not updated, refreshed or maintained. The agencies that publish them continue to revise and extend their series; this site does not follow those revisions. Treat what follows as a point-in-time record, and check anything you intend to rely on against the issuing agency.
India’s export figures are compiled across a basket of 487 national tariff lines covering finished medicines, bulk drugs and intermediates, vaccines, surgicals and traditional medicine. Two official carriers report this trade in sequence rather than in parallel — the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, and the pharmaceutical panel published under the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. Neither covers the full period alone, so both are summed. A figure drawn from one carrier in isolation understates the series, in some years severely.
| Figure | Basis | As at |
|---|---|---|
| $31.0 billion | Total exports across the 487-line basket, both carriers summed, FY 2025–26 | April 2025 – March 2026 |
| +124% | Growth from $13.83bn in FY 2014–15 to $31.00bn in FY 2025–26 | Series to June 2026 |
| 74.5% | Finished formulations as a share of the basket — $23.09bn of $31.00bn | FY 2025–26 |
| $4.94 billion | Bulk drugs and intermediates | FY 2025–26 |
| $1.55 billion | Vaccines | FY 2025–26 |
| 213 destinations | 176 individually profiled, plus 37 further destinations listed by name and value | FY 2025–26 |
The five category figures sum to the $31.0 billion total exactly. A residual gap of two destinations exists between the 215 recorded in the underlying series for the year and the 213 presented here; the page total is stated on the basis of the destinations actually listed.
The United States is the largest single destination, and it is the clearest example of why a basis has to be stated. India’s own record shows $9.43 billion to the United States on the 487-line basket for FY 2025–26. The US Census Bureau records $15.06 billion of pharmaceutical imports from India for calendar year 2025. Both are correct. They differ because they measure different periods and different baskets — a fiscal year against a calendar year, and a defined tariff basket against the whole of the pharmaceutical chapter. Neither figure corrects the other, and a page quoting one names which it is using.
Pharmaceutical patent filings at the Indian Patent Office rose from 7,158 in 2014 to 18,668 in 2024, counted by filing year on the pharmaceutical subset of the register. The figure is specific to that subset: the full register is very much larger and does not reproduce these numbers. Filing data on this site runs to 2025.
| Source | Coverage | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics | FY 2014–15 to 2025–26 | Exports by destination, tariff-line detail, category mix |
| Directorate General of Foreign Trade — pharmaceutical panel | FY 2014–15 to 2025–26 | The middle years of the export series, where DGCIS does not carry it |
| US Census Bureau | CY 2015–2025 | United States imports from India, partner-side basis |
| Eurostat | CY 2015–2025 | EU member state imports from India |
| HM Revenue & Customs | CY 2015–2025 | United Kingdom imports from India |
| Statistics Canada | CY 2015–2025 | Canadian imports from India |
| Reserve Bank of India | 2011–2026 | Overseas direct investment; monthly reference rates for currency conversion |
| US Food and Drug Administration | Register as compiled | FDA-registered manufacturing facilities in India |
| Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade | Cumulative to Q3 FY 2025–26 | Foreign direct investment in drugs and pharmaceuticals |
| Indian Patent Office | 2014–2025 | Pharmaceutical patent filing trends |
| Ministry of External Affairs | 2023 onward | Humanitarian medicine consignments, reported separately from commercial trade |
Humanitarian consignments are not trade. Medicines and equipment supplied through the Ministry of External Affairs are recorded separately and are not included in any export total on this site.
Grant dates are sparse. The patent register carries filing dates far more completely than grant dates, so analysis on this site is by filing year. Grant-date analysis is not supportable at scale from this source.
Company and patent records are not joined. Company registration data and patent data are held separately and are not linked; nothing on this site presents them as connected.
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