Time is ticking and Indian pharmaceutical units dependent on crucial raw materials from China - active pharmaceutical ingredients and key starting materials to make medicines in India - are waiting and watching developments unfold this month. The industry expected things in China to return back to normal by mid-February at the conclusion of the extended Chinese New Year holidays. However, it seems far from business as usual.

According to a senior member of the Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association, if raw material supplies from China remain disrupted beyond March then it would have an impact on production of the active pharmaceutical ingredients made using key starting materials and drug intermediates from China. This will, in turn, affect the production of final formulated products - the tablets and capsules that people consume.

It is not as if there is a complete standstill in imports from China. Officials from Indian pharmaceutical companies say manufacturing and shipping have resumed in parts of China away from the epicenter of coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. There is, however, no clarity on the extent to which production has resumed and shipments commenced. For instance, a senior official of a leading company estimates that around 30 per cent of usual pharmaceutical production appears to have started in China, and 25 per cent of shipments have resumed.