# Pharma starting materials and intermediates

Key starting materials and drug intermediates: the chemical building blocks behind every API, and the step where India depends most on China.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/

Fine chemicals · Pharmaceutical · No. 93

- Product family
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- not published globally
- HS 2933, 2934
 Fine chemicals · Pharmaceutical · Foundation · Matter

The weakest link in India's medicine supply is not the pill but the first chemical building block, mostly made in China.

Chart: Illustration: Pharma starting materials and intermediates

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Chemical KSMs come from benzene and ammonia through nitration and hydrogenation, needing about 1.1 t of nitrobenzene per tonne of para-aminophenol; antibiotics start from fermentation.

##### Three things to know

1. Aurobindo's Lyfius plant at Kakinada, opened in 2024, can make 15,000 t a year of penicillin G, the root of beta-lactam antibiotics.
2. Meghmani's 13,500 t a year para-aminophenol plant supplies the key building block for paracetamol.
3. In January 2026 India set minimum import prices, including Rs 3,405/kg for 6-APA, for one year.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Basic chemicals**Benzene, phenol, nitrobenzene, ammonia, cyanamide
2. 2 **Simple intermediates**Nitrated, chlorinated, hydrogenated aromatics
3. 3 **Starting material**Registered block where GMP control begins
4. 4 **Drug intermediates**Built up step by step towards API
5. 5 **APIs**Paracetamol, metformin, antibiotics, sartans
 Covered in [Pharmaceuticals and fermentation: from molecule to medicineChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/pharmaceuticals-and-fermentation/)

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## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/ksm_intermediates/links/index.md)