Category: Media

The Tamil Nadu chapter of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (TN IDMA) has decided to postpone the largest south Indian exhibition of pharmaceutical products and machinery, Pharmac South 2022, to July 8 and 9 due to the rising number of positive Omicron cases in the state.

However, stall booking will continue online without any interruption. Enquiries by customers and visitors are getting every day. This year is the seventh edition of the event in series, sources informed.

The trade show was scheduled to be held on March 14 and 15 this year at Chennai Trade Centre at Guindy following the gradual subsidence of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in early December last year. The event creates a strong platform for contract manufacturers and brand marketers.

“We are now forced to postpone the show to a further date, not too long. We have been getting enquiries for the last two years from exhibitors and visitors from across the country on this mega trade show on pharmaceuticals and industrial machineries. The exhibition is unique in the exposition of the pharma industry’s various products and services, and customers and industry partners from all the south Indian states meet together on these two days to know about innovative products and machinery, market trends, and opportunities. Taking note of the present situation, we have postponed the event to July,” said J Jayaseelan, chairman of the TN IDMA.

Pharmac South will explore the latest pharmaceutical innovations and new approaches that shape the Indian pharma industry. Manufacturers of formulations, APIs, intermediates, excipients, and allied products can exhibit and sell their products by reaching on to this platform organized by the Tamil Nadu pharma industry. This is a rare opportunity for the contract manufacturers and brand marketers of the south Indian states to develop their business said he.

Both the formulation and API units in Tamil Nadu are anticipating that the state government may announce its Tindivanam Pharma Park project in the coming budget session of the State Assembly which commences on April 6.

The cluster project is mainly to boost the small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors and all the groundwork for the project has been fulfilled, said a senior officer from the State Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO).

“The project is almost finalized. 90% of the groundwork is over. The next step is the announcement by the CM and it may happen at any time in the coming assembly budget session. The work on the detailed project report (DPR) is already over, and last week the industry secretary called a meeting of all stakeholders, in which representatives of TN pharma industry, MSME secretary, and SIDCO officials attended. Final discussion on the project with participation of industry is also over.  Now everything is in the hands of the government who will announce the details at any time during the assembly session,” said R Pradeep, senior consultant at SIDCO.

Expecting the announcement, the TN pharma industry (IDMA) has called a meeting of its executive committee on April 5 to discuss further matters. Last month the TN IDMA submitted their recommendations to the government following the announcement of the park site by the government. According to sources from the industry, government has notified 250 acres of land at Tindivanam for the development of the pharma cluster.

J Jayaseelan, chairman of the TN IDMA, said this Tindivanam Pharma Park will not only benefit the pharma industry in Tamil Nadu, but also it will benefit the pharma MSMEs in Pondicherry which is 35 kilometer distance from Tindivanam. The union territory of Pondicherry is a leader in drug manufacturing sector with the services of over 100 formulation companies. Chennai is 130 kilometers away from Tindivanam.

With the two days programme on 8 and 9 next month, the pharmaceutical industry association hopes that the event will instill confidence among the industry and help revive the businesses of entrepreneurs including those of the pharma SMEs. The organizers expect good responses during the two days of the trade fair. TN IDMA has assigned one Mumbai based event management company to organize the program in Chennai.

It is learnt that this year’s exhibition-cum-industry seminars are completely focused on the growth and development of the pharma small-scale industries in south India. All seminars are focusing on dialogues with innovations in digital marketing by MSMEs and how to promote exports by small-scale entrepreneurs.

L. Sivanandam, organizing secretary of the trade show, said this is the seventh edition of the event in the series after skipping two years, 2020 and 2021, due to Covid-19 pandemic. He said this year’s Pharmac South is completely focusing on small scale entrepreneurs’ growth.

Briefing Pharmabiz, he said, on the first day July 8, after the inauguration by the chief guest from the government side, a CEO’s Talk is organized to reassure and inspire the SME entrepreneurs in south India to become successful in their businesses.  The chief operating officer of Encube Ethicals in Gujarat will deliver the address. The program organizers have designed two sessions in the afternoon, one on marketing topics and another on motivation to inspire and motivate the sales and marketing teams of the industry.

The second day will have four sessions in total, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, and each session will have a duration of 90 minutes. The vice-chairman of the Pharmexcil, SV Veeramani, will address the participants in the morning. An exclusive session on exports by pharmaceuticals by SMEs will be arranged in the afternoon.

From the TN IDMA side J Jayaseelan, the chairman of the association has commented that over 100 exhibitors will showcase their products and machineries in the two days expo.

“So far 700 square metres of the space has been booked by 65 exhibitors from north India. We are expecting the same number of people from the southern states also. In order to inspire and motivate the small entrepreneurs in marketing and exports, we have arranged some special programs in the two days show. Pharmac South is entirely a trade fair for the small and medium industries in the south,” he ascertained.

The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) has decided to actively participate in this year’s Pharmac South Expo to be held in Chennai Trade Centre from July 8 to 9 to help promote the business of the small-scale pharma entrepreneurs.

The council wants to support the SME sector including manufacturers, contract manufacturers, and pharmaceutical marketers in the south by directing and guiding them on how to become exporters. For this purpose, a special stall will be put up in the exhibition hall as a point of contact for the industry people to clear all doubts and answer their queries about export opportunities, says SV Veeramani, vice-chairman of Pharmexcil.

“We want to help the SMEs, contract manufacturers, and marketers to enter into the export business. Many SMEs want to export their products but they do not get support from anywhere. Our director-general Dr. Ravi Uaday Bhaskar will be attending the two days program and he has agreed to give a talk on ‘the export opportunities to support SMEs.” Officials from the council will be in the stall to provide information about export from India to other countries and promotion of business,” he told Pharmabiz.

Veeramani said unlike previous years, this year’s Pharmac South will share very good opportunities for the entrepreneurs. A lot of manufacturers are attending to display their capacities. The contract manufacturers can also use their facilities to do exports, for which all information will be given at the stall put up in the hall. The participating manufacturers and marketers can display their products in their stalls.

Stressing the support to the SME sector, Veeramani, who is the former chairman of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) said this year’s pharmaceutical trade show (Pharmac South 2022) is aiming to fully support the SMEs only.  Contract manufacturers and marketers from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Pondicherry, Karnataka and Kerala are also invited to Chennai to join with the entrepreneurs of Tamil Nadu. The entire pharma industry will get a boost this year and every participant can benefit from the two days event.

Welcoming the decision of the pharmaceutical promotion council, MD Varadarajan, president of the SME Pharma Manufacturers’ Association in Tamil Nadu (TN PMA) said the association hopes this year’s Pharmac South will open doors for the small scale entrepreneurs for doing exports. He said he wants every small pharmaceutical entrepreneur to become a manufacturer and exporter of pharmaceuticals to bring more revenue to the state. According to him, the seminars organized by Pharmac South organizers will become an eye-opener for small scale industries to boost their business.

“Every entrepreneur wants to promote his business and he looks for opportunities. I have appealed to all our members to participate in this year’s trade show and also invited the marketers of the state to come and attend the program. The TN IDMA’s efforts to conduct seminars and exhibitions are appreciable”, he said.

This year’s Pharmac South exhibition will display a wide range of pharmaceutical products and machineries from all over the country and it is expected that the show will help the small scale pharma entrepreneurs in the southern states to capture new markets and customers for their products, nationally and internationally, says Varsha Surve, coordinator of trade fair at Orbit Exhibitions Pvt Ltd, Mumbai.

The two-day exhibition-cum-seminars is organized jointly by Orbit Exhibitions and Tamil Nadu drug manufacturers association (TN IDMA) and the event is set to take place at the excellent facilities of the Chennai Trade Centre from July 8 to 9.

Detailing about the event, Varsha said, since the inception of Pharmac South in 2014, the exhibition has proven to be the largest show of innovative pharmaceutical products and company profiles for good-quality enquiries and is attracting more than 3,000 buyers of contract manufacturing services from India and outside. The buyer groups comprise manufacturing companies and marketing companies. This year’s event is expected to benefit more than 10,000 SME units of allopathic and ISM medicines operating in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka and Kerala.

“Compared to previous years, the enthusiasm of the exhibitors has increased a lot this year to display their products after the challenges of the Covid pandemic. So far 85 stalls have been sold out. The area of the show covers 2,500 sq mtr including a conference hall. We are bringing manufacturers from across the country to boost the businesses of contract manufacturers, pharma marketers and SME entrepreneurs in the south. The event will be an opportunity for the local manufacturers and the big players of north India to meet together on a common platform and build relationships for contract manufacturing services and to buy innovative products,” she told Pharmabiz.

Talking about the participation, Varsha said this year the show is expected to witness over 150 exhibitors and 5,000 visitors. The expo is supported by, apart from TN IDMA, SME pharma association (TN PMA), Pondicherry Drug Manufacturers Association (PDMA), PMAs of Karnataka and Kerala state.

Adding inputs, the chairman of the TN IDMA, J Jayaseelan said this time the duration of the seminars has been truncated and also curtailed panel discussions in order to help the entrepreneurs learn more about the products at the show and discuss with the exhibitors in the stalls. However, some valuable talks have been arranged to clear the doubts of the visitors. Pharmexcil is organizing one talk on export opportunities to help the SMEs.

“We don’t want to make the entrepreneurs sit in the seminar hall for the whole day, instead we want them to visit the stalls and learn about products and machineries,” said Jayaseelan by adding that separate marketing seminars will be held on both the days to motivate the pharma marketers.