India’s pharmaceutical sector plays a significant role in shaping the country’s healthcare-focused CSR landscape. A substantial share of pharma CSR spending is concentrated in healthcare, with investments largely directed toward primary care access, disease-specific interventions, healthcare infrastructure, and sanitation and nutrition. This concentration reflects how CSR activity in the sector is structured, with healthcare accounting for a markedly higher share of spending compared to the national CSR average.
Pharma CSR initiatives also show close alignment with India’s national health priorities and public health systems. Many programmes operate in partnership with government frameworks such as the National Health Mission, state health missions, and flagship health schemes, reinforcing service delivery at scale. At the same time, the broader landscape highlights patterns of overlap across geographies and themes, alongside persistent gaps in areas such as mental health, digital public health, workforce capacity, elderly care, and rare diseases. Together, these patterns offer a grounded view of how healthcare-focused CSR is currently deployed within the Indian pharma sector.
