The “Crafting Bharat – Season 2”, powered by AWS Startups, an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, and production partner – HT Smartcast, explores how startups are harnessing the power of the cloud to accelerate growth, optimize operations, and build solutions that will define the India of Tomorrow. This series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times.
In this episode, we spotlight Amit Kaul, COO of Pharmarack, who is transforming the fragmented value chain of chemists, distributors, and brands- and in the process taking India's $58 billion pharmaceuticals industry to new horizons. He shares insights about the pharmaceutical industry, building the largest B2B e-commerce platform and how AI-enabled efforts on AWS are helping them scale.
In this series, explore inspiring startup stories that are shifting gears and sparking innovation across sectors, all contributing to India’s transformation into a developed nation by 2047 in this captivating series.
Watch Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t7Ha3x7Rs0
Edited Excerpts:
Segment 1: Ignite
Considering the sheer number of issues at play, what was the MVP idea for Pharmarack to start things off in its mission to digitise the trade channel?
India’s pharma sector is highly fragmented, with over 500 ERP systems creating supply chain and visibility challenges. To solve this, we built a lightweight ordering app that integrates with 200+ distributor ERPs, enabling real-time inventory access and direct ordering, reducing dependency on traditional ways of ordering, manual ordering via phone/chat, and driving early, impactful adoption.
Give us a behind the scenes look at how Pharmarack built this momentum play in terms of organic growth for its product stack by resolving relevant customer pain points?
The real breakthrough came from empowering retailers—the essential link in pharmaceutical sales—who previously relied on calls and handwritten notes and couldn’t invest in technology. By giving them an intuitive ordering platform, we generated strong adoption pull, which in turn convinced distributors and manufacturers of its value in bridging their gap with retailers. Positioned at that critical point in the value chain, we now offer a comprehensive suite—Pharm Retail, PharmConnect 2.0, Trusales, and PharmScan that addresses challenges across the entire pharmaceutical distribution network.
Segment 2: Launch
Was your pure B2B play a blessing since it’s easier to gauge market expansion possibilities in a B2B framework versus a B2C model? What makes Pharmarack a resilient business?
Being a B2B provider in pharma distribution isn’t easy—our customers are institutionalized businesses laser-focused on sales and ROI, and they won’t hesitate to voice their needs. They only adopt tools that deliver tangible business value.
At Pharmarack, we’ve deliberately built deep relationships with small retailers and distributors to truly understand their pain points and design solutions that address real-world challenges. With over a million retailers in the market, the opportunity is vast—but so are the demands on service, resilience, and industry expertise. Today, we boast one of the largest pharma catalogues—nearly 450,000 SKUs across 15,000 distributor catalogues, each mapped to unique product codes—and handle phenomenal order volumes. Our end-to-end integrations span retailers, distributors, and manufacturers, giving us a unique competitive edge in delivering seamless, high-value solutions.
Sub-segment: Boost
How have your AI-enabled efforts on AWS brought about consistency of the data catalogue throughout your pharma value chain?
India’s pharmaceutical landscape is highly fragmented, with distributors and retailers using diverse systems and inconsistent product names. Pharmarack brings structure to this complexity by combining advanced AI/ML capabilities with the power of AWS and Snowflake. At the core of this solution is our extensive product catalogue, housing over 450,000 medicines, each uniquely tagged for precise identification. This enables our system to instantly match user inputs to the correct SKU within milliseconds, ensuring a smooth, e-commerce-like experience for all users.
Segment 3: Orbit
What needs to be the top priority for India to reach those targets and increase its influence in the global pharma value chain?
To reach India’s goal of becoming the world’s third-largest economy, the pharmaceutical sector must tackle several critical challenges. First, we need to overhaul supply chains for reliability and cost-efficiency. Second, we must enhance transparency and implement robust track-and-trace systems. Third, embracing GenAI and other cutting-edge technologies will drive innovation in this industry. Fourth, ramping up R&D investment and developing our patented drugs is essential. Addressing these five key areas will be vital for pharma—and for India’s broader economic ambitions.
PharmaTech is emerging as a powerful catalyst in transforming India’s healthcare and pharmaceutical landscape. By integrating advanced technologies into drug discovery, manufacturing, and delivery, PharmaTech is driving greater efficiency, transparency, and accessibility across the sector. This innovation-led growth is not only strengthening India's position in the global pharmaceutical arena but also playing a vital role in the country’s broader mission to become a developed economy.
Stay tuned to Crafting Bharat – Season 2 as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussions with Gautam Srinivasan.
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