Even though GLP-1 drugs have helped nearly 20 millionRoland BergerGLP-1: Fad or future? people shed weight across the world since 2021, Indians had to wait until 2025 to get in on the action legally.

To be fair, the country wasn’t entirely in the dark. Semaglutide—the molecule behind pharma giant Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy—was already available for diabetes treatment. But this March, Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (which uses a different molecule, tirzepatide) entered the market. In July, Wegovy arrived. And suddenly, India went from “we know GLP-1” to “we want the skinny shot”.

Since then, the GLP-1 market in India—across diabetes and weight loss—has grown from Rs 531 crore to Rs 628 crore. 

And now, depending on the vantage point, things are about to get much bigger. And much cheaper.

In March 2026, semaglutide goes off patent in India and 87 other markets, including Canada, China, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. This will trigger an 85–90% price drop, according to Ounsh Ventures—a pharma-consulting platform that specialises in biosimilarA biological medicine that is highly similar to another biological medicine that has already been approved by regulatory authorities strategy, decision-making, and execution projects for global pharma. Think Rs 10,000–20,000 a month today falling to Rs 2,500–4,000. Still a splurge, but suddenly within reach for tens of millions of Indians. For context, the average Indian earns just Rs 17,000 a month.

Ounsh estimates that if just 5% of India’s over 100 million eligible patients buy semaglutide at the lower price, you are looking at a $2 billion market in the country by 2030. Right now, only about 80,000–90,000 people (diabetic and obese) are on weight-loss drugs. 

“People want this drug, but price has been a concern,” said V Mohan, a doctor and chairman of Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.

And the industry knows it. When a drug that added $26 billion to Novo Nordisk’s topline last year suddenly goes off patent, the pharma world doesn’t just notice. Indian companies—from Zydus and Dr Reddy’s to Cipla and Sun Pharma—are racing to build Financial ExpressIndia to soon get cheaper versions of weight-loss drug: All you need to know semaglutide capacity.