December 19, 2004
India in 2005
By Vinayak
The Economist came out with its annual crystal ball - The World in 2005. There are two articles in India that are worth a read, it's forecast and a general editorial-style outlook. Both read to similar tunes - beware of the left leaning coalition partners that support the ruling party.
Its other outlook, "The World in Figures - Countries" outlook is a very mixed bag as well, essentially concluding that the government will stay, but will end up doing very little next year. It also has a nice little blurb on an important fact that I had totally forgotten about (it was the topic of my Bachelor's thesis) - the fact that 2005 heralds drug patenting regulations under the WTO agreements. The Economist says (in reference to creating new drugs), 'Indian companies will rise to the challenge: costs are low and scientists plentiful.' My own conviction believes that for the blurb to be true, the companies still need to figure out how to contend with the brain drain. Then there is the question of R&D money, will there be enough?
My own short term outlook for the pharmaceutical industry is that it could end up being a free-for-all "dead traveler in the desert" story with drugs whose patent regimes are soon to end. Trust the Indian jackals to have the niftiest set of wings that do Darwin proud.
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