Logistics prescription for India’s fragile pharma lifeline

India’s pharmaceutical supply chain runs deep into every corner of the country and stretches far beyond its borders, feeding both the domestic market and regulated markets overseas. It is a system that thrives on scale yet struggles with visibility, where lifesaving therapies must move through fragile networks of distributors, warehouses, and retailers. Behind the scenes, supply chain leaders are constantly balancing the unpredictable demand of acute care with the steady demand of chronic therapies, maintaining a cold chain in a country prone to power outages, and navigating global disruptions that can double shipment times. The story of pharma logistics is one of resilience under pressure, told through those who wrestle with its challenges every day.

“Till the distributor, we are comfortable. After that point, my visibility is completely zero. Probably it’s only feedback from the market that makes me react rather than respond.”
Rajesh Neve, Zuventus Healthcare

Shifting therapies, shifting strategies
India’s pharmaceutical supply chain is one of the most complex and challenging networks in the world. Unlike FMCG, where changes and innovations are quickly adopted, pharma remains conservative, constrained by regulations, trade bodies, and the sheer difficulty of implementation across thousands of pin codes.

“This is quite a challenging industry, which adopts changes slowly, gradually, and it's not like the FMCG industry, where the changes are very frequent,” says Anand Prasad, Associate Vice President - Supply Chain, JB Chemicals & Pharma. “Here, the changes are governed by certain regulations, certain trade bodies, and implementations across all pin codes are very difficult.”

According to Prasad, the Indian domestic market is undergoing a shift in consumption patterns that is directly shaping supply chain strategies. Acute therapies, once the dominant segment with antibiotics and cough syrups driving sales, are giving way to chronic therapies like diabetes and hypertension treatments.

This transformation means that forecasting and planning must now revolve around a segment where demand is steady, not seasonal. “Once a patient is taking medicines of X brand will continue to take the medicines of X brand till the doctor changes the prescription. So planning plays a very important role in the chronic segment.”

But acute therapies still matter, and their unpredictability keeps supply chain managers on edge. “Acute therapy depends on the seasons. During the cough and cold season, demand for those medicines goes up. In the rainy season, diarrhoea and anti-diarrhoeal drugs see higher consumption. If it is influenza, then medicines for flu and anti-inflammatory drugs become more prominent.”

Adding to this is the growing wellness segment in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, where consumers demand products ranging from immunity boosters to dermatology and cosmetology treatments.

If planning is the first challenge, distribution is the second. The question of where and how to position distributors is critical. “We don't need to have a distributor or a channel partner at every pin code, but we need to have a distributor or my channel partner at the appropriate place,” says Prasad.

But not every distributor is equal. “It is important to identify channel partners who not only have the financial capability but, more importantly, know how to store medicines,” Prasad says. The risk becomes sharper with the rise of e-commerce. “E-commerce is very good at delivering groceries in 10 minutes. But how will they deliver medicines in 10 minutes? We don’t know what storage norms they are following.”

Cold chain management is another weak link. While compliance is essential for insulin, IV fluids, and other temperature-sensitive medicines, retail practices often fall short. “Even at retail counters, I don’t see proper cold chains being used,” Prasad says. “Many retailers keep medicines in a fridge or freezer, but a freezer is not two to eight degrees. What’s needed is a proper walk-in cooler. And we don’t know if they switch off the power at night or how they handle frequent electricity fluctuations, which are very common in India.”

While Prasad highlights the complexity of planning and the vulnerabilities in storage and distribution, Rajesh Neve, Vice President Distribution & Logistics, Zuventus Healthcare, brings the conversation closer to the ground reality of execution.

“What will be more exciting in the future is how Gen AI and analytics come together to give me deeper insights and clear actionables.”
Gaurav Bhatia, Shalina Healthcare

The last-mile blind spot
Indian pharma has come a long way in building manufacturing strength and distribution muscle. Still, its logistics ecosystem continues to wrestle with critical challenges, chief among them visibility in the last mile. Neve agrees with Prasad and explains why.

“The first mile and middle mile are very much controlled through the ERP system. The last mile is a challenge for us, where we have to rely on the expertise of my field person or the wholesaler. I don’t have any direct visibility of that last-mile delivery to the hospital or the chemist,” he says. The lack of visibility, he adds, is not just about the movement of goods; it directly affects quality, shelf availability, and can eventually lead to expiries or costly sales returns.

Zuventus Healthcare, founded in 2002, is today a ₹2,200 crore company. Its manufacturing is largely in-house, 80 percent across three sites in Jammu, Bangalore, and Sikkim, allowing control over processes and quality. The company runs 24 warehouses and three mother depots located in Siliguri, Delhi, and Pune. “That gives a lever in terms of controlling the quality of the product and the deliverables, because 80 percent of our products come from in-house manufacturing, wherein we have complete control over the processes, the operations, the timelines and the raw material that we use,” Neve points out.

From these manufacturing sites, goods flow to the mother warehouses, then to state warehouses, and finally to distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and hospitals. But once the product leaves the distributor’s hand, control slips. “Till the distributor, we are comfortable. After that point, my visibility is completely zero. Probably it’s only feedback from the market that makes me react rather than respond,” Neve admits.

To address this visibility gap, Zuventus is turning to technology. “We are moving into the QR code model. Right now, we have it on a few products, but we are trying to extend that to all possible products, so that if the QR scanning happens at some point in India, I can know where it is getting scanned,” he explains. At the same time, the company is using pin code–wise sales data to reconcile primary dispatches with secondary movement. Its field staff also carries out quarterly audits of key brands to track whether consignments are moving as intended and being consumed properly.

Yet, visibility is only part of the problem. Return logistics has emerged as another weak spot. “If I want to recall products from places for any reason, fit or not fit for sale, it takes days. First, I have to trace it, then the recall process happens. And during that window, there are chances that products may be unknowingly used,” Neve says. Costs make the process even more difficult. “No transporter will be willing to take the returns at an optimal cost.”

As Neve frames it, the challenge of pharma logistics today is no longer just about moving medicines but also about protecting revenues and ensuring compliance. “Earlier, logistics was only about the movement of goods. But now, if you see, logistics is also about collecting revenues. With cash on delivery and all that has come up, there is leakage or a delay in recoverables. That’s where the interest cost, the cost of capital, is pinching the company,” he says.

The complexity is even greater when it comes to specialised drugs such as oncology products. Unlike tablets, which patients can buy in monthly packs, cancer therapies are supplied dose by dose. “Transporting these products, which are small in volume, to the patient or to the hospital is a challenge as of now,” Neve explains.

Neve’s concerns about visibility and return logistics point to how disruptions accumulate when systems lack transparency. But for Gaurav Bhatia, General Manager- Supply Chain, Shalina Healthcare, the problem often starts much earlier, at the very stage of anticipating demand. Where Neve worries about tracking goods once they leave the warehouse, Bhatia must first ensure that the right quantities are produced and dispatched in the first place.

“E-commerce is very good at delivering groceries in 10 minutes. But how will they deliver medicines in 10 minutes? We don’t know what storage norms they are following.”
Anand Prasad, JB Chemicals & Pharma

Forecasting under fire
For Bhatia, perhaps the most critical issue lies in demand forecasting. “One of the core challenges I see is the capability on the demand forecasting side. It’s always difficult to get the right forecast because business is very aspirational; they always project higher, whereas the reality is slightly off,” Bhatia says.

The mismatch between projected and actual demand creates a cycle of overstocking and understocking, leading either to cash being locked in unused material or shortages in critical products.

He explains the recurring nature of the problem: “If I am under-projecting, it's a bigger challenge because then I have to arrange two more batches of raw material, packing material, and so on. It basically becomes firefighting,” Bhatia says.

Even where forecast accuracy appears strong on the surface, the averages often hide discrepancies across different product categories.“When you say at an organisational level that accuracy is 83%, everybody is very happy. But the lower part is never discussed or shown, and that’s the real problem,” Bhatia says.

When it comes to logistics, the most immediate pain point is container availability. “We have a vessel and a booking, but we don’t get a container on time. That’s a constant problem; it’s never been a week or a month without this container issue,” Bhatia says.

Compounding this is the shortage of drivers. “Even if the container is available at the yard, the driver or vehicle to pick it up, bring it to my warehouse, and take it back is often not available,” Bhatia explains. He cautions that this shortage will only worsen with time.

Looking ahead, Bhatia sees technology as the most promising solution. “Tech-driven solutions are emerging, such as integrating all my suppliers, warehouses, and stocks on one platform. That’s really helpful because I no longer need to log into each partner’s or vendor’s system to check details. Where is my cargo? I can now see everything on my own platform,” Bhatia says.

The real breakthrough, he believes, will come when artificial intelligence and predictive analytics can provide not just data, but actionable insights. “What will be more exciting in the future is how Gen AI and analytics come together to give me deeper insights and clear actionables,” Bhatia says.

Bhatia places his bets on technology to cut through uncertainty, arguing that digital tools can transform data into actionable insights. Pradeep Rai, Supply Chain Head, Crescent Pharma, extends that argument to a global scale, where regulatory hurdles, cold chain gaps, and port congestion intersect with India’s role as an export hub. His vantage point connects local inefficiencies with international dependencies, making the case that digitalisation is not just a competitive advantage but a survival strategy in pharma logistics.

“We also want to strengthen our cold chain management by using temperature monitoring devices in containers, along with proper documentation and electronic clearance systems.”
Pradeep Rai,  Crescent Pharma

Global pressures, local gaps
India has also emerged as a critical hub for global pharmaceutical manufacturing, but its logistics and supply chain continue to wrestle with structural challenges. For companies like Crescent Pharma, which operates through a combination of contract manufacturing and owned facilities in India and the UK, managing this complex web is both an opportunity and a daily struggle.

Crescent Pharma gets its products manufactured through contract manufacturers as well as five owned facilities—two recently acquired sites in Chennai and Mumbai, and three more in the UK. While Crescent Pharma is the third-largest generic company in the UK, all of its Indian manufacturing is export-driven. “We get the products manufactured through CMOs and our own sites and export to the UK market. We are in the process of expanding across Europe and other parts. We are also focusing on getting our products registered in LATAM, the US, Canada and Africa markets,” Rai explained.

As the person responsible for Crescent Pharma’s supply planning, logistics distribution, and new launches across Europe, India, and China, Rai sees India’s logistical bottlenecks up close. The most pressing among them are regulatory compliance and cold chain management.

“The biggest challenge is regulatory hurdles, which are very complex because we are working in regulated markets. We have to follow regulatory guidelines and ensure compliance, particularly in maintaining goods under proper temperature without excursions. Cold chain management is a major challenge since we have limited cold storage facilities in India,” he noted.

Infrastructure constraints add another layer of difficulty. “Congestion at transportation, warehouses, and ports” often derails carefully planned schedules.

Rai pointed to global disruptions like the Suez Canal crisis that forced rerouting and extended transit times. “For example, shipment timelines increased from 30 days to 45–50 days, impacting stock situations.”

Even under normal conditions, India’s port operations can create unpredictability. “There is congestion at ports, and recently, there were many blank sailings, which delayed shipments by 5–10 days,” Rai said.

Despite the challenges, Rai sees digitalisation as the way forward. “We especially need to work on digitalising the whole system process by putting in the right infrastructure. IoT systems are especially growing, and we are trying to put them in place so that the system has more GPS for real-time shipment monitoring. We also want to strengthen our cold chain management by using temperature monitoring devices in containers, along with proper documentation and electronic clearance systems. These measures can help us digitalise the end-to-end supply system with AI and IoT.”

What emerges from these perspectives is a picture of an industry caught between promise and pressure. On one side, Indian pharma is diversifying therapies, scaling manufacturing, and extending its reach to global markets. On the other hand, its logistics backbone is still straining under visibility gaps, regulatory hurdles, cold chain fragility, and global supply disruptions. For supply chain leaders, the task ahead is not just to move medicines efficiently but to reimagine the very systems that carry them—from forecasting demand to ensuring the last mile is as reliable as the first. In that reimagination lies the future of pharma logistics.

This article was originally published in the Indian Transport & Logistics News' Set-Oct 2025 issue.