Domestic companies, on the other hand, specially in the pharmaceutical sector, are busy visiting government officials to alter the patent bill. Their argument no doubt deserves merit, but that should not prevent them from preparing themselves for the worst. Apart from a handful of companies, most Indian players are preparing to be generic market players and thriving on high-volume low-margin products which go off patent.

Multinationals, however, are not readily letting other players enter into products that have gone off patent ashas been the case with Glaxo for its ranitidine molecule. In such a scenario, Indian companies are forced to approach the courts, and the battle could be a long and bloody one.

Indian companies are busy consolidating their positions in the generic or the over-the-counter market. Some domestic companies are entering into joint ventures with MNCs for a fixed period of time, and continuation of such joint ventures after 2005 is anybody's guess. If companies like Dr Reddy's, Lupin Laboratories and JB Chemicals can carry on product research, there is no reason why other Indian companies cannot do the same. Indian companies will not only need their financial muscles, but also the technological skills to counter the threat from multinationals. Mergers are the fastest and cheapest ways to achieve this.