Abstract

This paper attempts to address the question of economic growth and development through a sectoral analysis of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and its transition from a ‘revenue-based business model’ to a ‘growth-based business model’. It critically addresses this transition, the reasons behind it and its consequences through two distinct strands in the literature vis-à-vis economic growth and development. Concomitantly, the paper provides an understanding of the role of multilateral organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in this transformation and how such institutions act in order to help multinational corporations (MNCs) to expand their hegemony. With the spread of the ideology of ‘maximisation of shareholder value’ that is intrinsically linked with the ‘growth’ of the industry, there was a reorientation of global pharmaceutical industry in terms of innovation and drug manufacturing. This in turn impacted the pharmaceutical industry in India in such a way that the companies here became extension units of multinational pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the Indian population, particularly the most vulnerable sections.