Indian Pharma Market Kicks Off 2026 With 10% Growth in January: PharmaTrac
New Delhi: The Indian Pharmaceutical Market (IPM) started calendar year 2026 with a robust uptick, delivering 10.21% month-on-month value growth and 1.82% unit growth in January, data from PharmaTrac MAT Jan 2026 shows.
On a MAT basis, the IPM stood at ₹2.42 lakh crore, registering 8.0% value growth, while unit growth remained modest at 0.7%, underscoring the structural challenge of demand expansion in the domestic market.
Chronic segments once again formed the growth backbone of the market. Cardiac therapies, which now account for nearly 14% of IPM value, grew 13.2% on MAT and 14.0% in January, supported by steady prescribing and price-led expansion.
Anti-diabetic drugs continued their strong trajectory, posting 9.9% MAT growth and a sharper 15.2% MoM value growth, reflecting both rising disease burden and increasing penetration of premium therapies.
The respiratory segment also outperformed, growing 10.3% on MAT and 9.7% MoM, while anti-neoplastics stood out with double-digit unit growth, highlighting increasing adoption of oncology therapies despite affordability challenges.
Together, these segments reinforce a clear trend: India’s pharma growth is increasingly chronic-driven and speciality-led.
In contrast, several acute and mass-market therapies lagged. Gastrointestinal drugs grew just 5.0% on MAT, with unit sales declining by 3.0%, while anti-infectives posted 5.1% value growth but remained weak on volumes.
Quarterly data for Qtr Jan 2026 highlights the underlying drivers of IPM growth. Overall quarterly growth stood at 9.62%, with price growth contributing 5.5% and new products adding 3.2%, while volume growth was limited to 1.0%.
Among the top 20 corporates, Sun Pharma retained its leadership, delivering 14.6% MoM growth in January. Torrent, Intas, Glenmark, Dr. Reddy’s, Zydus, and Lupin also reported strong double-digit monthly growth, signalling broad-based momentum across large Indian players rather than isolated outperformance.
Brand-level performance further reflects evolving market priorities. Augmentin, Glycomet GP, Foracort, PAN, and Clavam featured among the top contributors to incremental value. Notably, Mounjaro (tirzepatide) entered the top brand list, underlining the rapid emergence of the anti-obesity and advanced diabetes space. The anti-obesity market has expanded nearly ten-fold over the past five years, driven largely by GLP-1 agonists.
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