Contract Research Organizations (CROs) provide support to the biotechnology,
pharmaceutical, and related industries through outsourced research and development
services that span drug discovery, preclinical research, clinical research,
clinical trial management, commercialization, and pharmacovigilance. The Indian
CRO market is attractive, and it is one of the most attractive outsourcing
global locations. India is offering a great source of well educated (including
higher degrees), well trained, and English fluent labor. On top of that an average
PhD will cost 85% less in India than compared to the US. India has a big and extremely
diverse genetic pool to adequately fit pharmaceutical clinical trials. On a
federal level, India has divested in internal and external support to promote
biotechnology and pharmaceutical development (i.e. regulatory authorities such
as Director Controller General of India (DCGI), Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR), Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of
Biotechnology (DBT) to create an amenable climate for research in India 2),
and on the State Level Tax discounts, and Hi (Bio) Tech parks development. Another
predictor to the attractiveness of CROs in India, was the global growth of CROs,
that in the early 2000 was at staggering 100%, and by 2010 India’s CRO were to
be 20% of the global CORs market.  India
has become increasingly important in the global pharmaceutical supply chain and
hence incentivizing the engagement of Indian pharmaceutical players in research
and related manufacture has resulted in contract research and manufacturing
services (CRAMS) emerging as one of the fastest growing segments in the country
(Biocon 2017 annual report 1).

Today, India is becoming even more favorable CRO market
destination. The leading reason being; India’s alignment of global guidelines
and IP rights, offering (even more than a decade ago) educated and accessible
labor, low operational cost (driven by low labor costs), great source of largely
available hospitals, diverse types of climatic conditions, and diverse ethnic
pool thus enabling diverse sample for clinical trials 2.