Agence France-Presse examines how Indian drug companies have infiltrated the South African market over the last few years in an effort to have a broader reach in Africa. India’s pharmaceutical industry is now the second largest in the world by volume, according to AFP.

“Unlike most multinational companies, India’s ‘big three’ pharmaceuticals – Ranbaxy, Cipla and Dr. Reddy’s – have carefully cultivated their local credentials by bringing South Africans into the top corporate echelons. … Cheap generic drugs have been the catalysts of that growth, and Africa has been a key market, buying 14 percent of India’s $8-billion pharmaceutical exports in 2009,” the news service writes. “Ranbaxy and Cipla have also won fans by slashing the price of anti-AIDS drugs … Providing discount generics has been big business and helped the Indian industry displace its Western rivals,” the article notes (Berger, 5/22).