Unlike its giant outsourcing companies such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies, India's pharmaceutical makers are a lot less understated in their public profiles even as they are the No. 1 supplier of generics globally.

Those who know something of the industry would recognise Sun Pharma, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Laboratories as among the better known names in a highly fragmented space. In the first quarter of this year, one firm that caught global attention was Bangalore-based Strides Pharma Science.