NEW DELHI: The Sensex and Nifty opened in red on Friday as the Nifty 50 extended its losing streak, slipping below key levels for the fifth consecutive session. The index has already given up more than half of the 1,000 point rally it had witnessed since the August 29 lows.
The Nifty Pharma index dropped sharply by 2.42 per cent, touching an intraday low of 21,445.50. Sun Pharma slipped 4.87 per cent to a new 52-week low of Rs. 1,548, while Gland Pharma fell 4.70 per cent to Rs. 1,880. Biocon was down 3.68 per cent at Rs. 342.85. Other leading pharmaceutical companies, including Laurus Labs, Ipca Labs, Divis, Zydus Life, Alkem Labs, Cipla, Ajanta Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, Torrent Pharma, Abbott India, and Glenmark, also ended lower in the range of 0.8 to 3.2 per cent.
United States President Donald Trump announced on Friday that his administration will impose a 100 per cent tariff on branded and patented pharmaceutical products beginning October 1, 2025, unless the manufacturing companies establish production facilities in the United States.
Ajay Bagga, Banking and Market Expert, said the latest move from Washington has created fresh uncertainty. “The bigger news was the expansion of Trump tariffs to branded pharma, some furniture items and big trucks. The 100 per cent tariffs announced on branded pharma imports can potentially impact over USD 233 billion of US pharma exports. Indian generic drug exporters should be exempt for now, which safeguards most of the USD 12 billion of Indian pharma exports to the US,” he said.
Bagga added that clarity is awaited on the impact of these tariffs on Indian companies exporting branded or speciality products to the US.
Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, said, “The executive order refers to patented / branded products supplied to the US. It is not applicable to generic medicines.”
