The reason behind lower priced generic drugs was so that a middle class Indian could still afford medicine without a large chunk of their income being spent or having to face inaccessibility of necessary pharmaceuticals.

The patent act was amended in 2005 to adhere to world trade laws, but still offered loopholes to Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers. Two main clauses that allowed these openings were:

• It allowed recognition of product patents that were filed after 1995, which was an extremely significant clause. For example, especially for a company like Pfizer that applied for patent in 1993.
• Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers who had made significant investments in manufacturing and developing generics up until then could continue doing so by paying royalty to the original manufacturer. This paved the way for the legal production of Generic Cialis in India.

So yes, it is legal to manufacture generic medicines in India and it is also legal for doctors to prescribe those reasonably priced generics which are otherwise exceedingly expensive because of patent laws abroad. This is why India is a hotspot and preferred destination of those who want to purchase pharmaceutical drugs. Since everything is legal, the primary manufacturers manufacture medicines following the highest standards, warranting the highest quality at a significantly lower price.

What are the top selling generic drugs in India?

Generic Viagra and Generic Cialis are the most widely purchased medicines bought online and countless men have benefited.

Top Pharmaceutical manufacturers

CIPLA, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddys

Indian Pharmaceutical Industry Facts

• India's pharmaceutical industry has thousands of listed units and with extreme local competition, the prices are very economical.
• India has a colossal population which is almost 4 times the population of the US. Therefore the heavy demand for healthcare can to an extent, cover the low pricing strategy for manufacturers.
• India's pharmaceutical industry is the principal science industry in the nation and is worth billions of dollars. It is undisputedly the best amongst 3rd world nations and also one of the world's most prominent pharmaceutical industries in relation to quality, technology and variety of medicines.

With a revenue exceeding 25,000 crore rupees, the pharmaceutical industry in India is amongst the fastest growing industries since it has a growth rate of over 27%. With the top Indian pharmaceutical organizations buying out many smaller pharmaceutical manufacturers in the US and Europe, it is anticipated to get bigger and surpass even the pharmaceutical market globally, with revenues of about $16,000 million expected by 2014.

The primary pharmaceutical manufacturers in India
Ranbaxy (revenue INR 42 billion)
Dr Reddys Laboratories (Revenue INR 41.7 billion)
CIPLA (Revenue INR 39 billion)
Sun Pharma (Revenue INR 26 billion)
Lupin Labs (Revenue INR 23 billion)
Aurobindo Pharma (Revenue INR 21.5 billion)
GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (Revenue INR 18.5 billion)
Cadila Healthcare (Revenue INR 17 billion)
Aventis Pharma (Revenue INR 10.5 billion)
Ipca Laboratories (Revenue INR 10 billion)