India's dependence on imported APIs is a strategic vulnerability. Evaluate the Bulk Drug Parks scheme as a response.

In FY 2024-25, India imported APIs, bulk drugs and intermediates worth about USD 4.35 billion, and about 73.7% came from China [1]. India is called the "pharmacy of the world", yet it relies on one supplier for the active core of its medicines. The Bulk Drug Parks scheme is a sound response, but it is late and covers only part of the problem.

Why the dependence is a strategic vulnerability

• The government itself has flagged single-source dependence, sudden price swings and predatory pricing [1].
• A border standoff or a pandemic lockdown in the supplier country could halt Indian formulation lines. That is a risk to health security, not just to trade.

Strengths of the scheme

• Lower costs from clustering: ₹3,000 crore for 3 parks. The Centre pays 70% of Common Infrastructure Facility (CIF) cost, or 90% for hilly States, capped at ₹1,000 crore per park [2][3]. Shared effluent treatment, power, water and testing labs cut each unit's costs.
• Cooperative federalism: States competed for the parks. Jambusar (Gujarat), Haroli (HP) and Nakkapalli (AP) were chosen, and the States provide land and clearances [2][3].
• Works alongside PLI: the PLI scheme for 41 KSMs/APIs pays incentives on actual sales of the products [4]. The parks lower set-up costs and PLI rewards output.
• Reviewed at the top: the parks were reviewed at the 54th PRAGATI meeting under the PM's "outcomes over outlays" message [5].

Limitations

• Delay: the scheme was approved in March 2020 and ends in FY 2026-27. In early 2026, only Gujarat's civil works were largely complete. AP and HP were still at the tender stage [3].
• Scale gap: shared infrastructure does not match China's huge production volumes, which make each kilo cheaper.
• Wrong yardstick: progress is measured by infrastructure built. It is not measured by factories running or by a fall in import share.
• Narrow reach: three parks cannot cover the roughly 200 product categories India imports [1].

On balance, the scheme rightly targets India's cost disadvantage, but it has not yet produced domestic supply. Several steps would help:

• The Department of Pharmaceuticals should report import share for the targeted APIs.
• PRAGATI should track units actually commissioned inside the parks.
• Any extension should be tied to milestones, and the parks should stay closely linked to PLI.

With these steps, the parks can move from outlay to outcome. They would then advance Atmanirbhar Bharat in pharma and SDG 3 (good health and well-being).