India Calling' could well be the most apt line to catch the mood at global headquarters of multinational pharma giants. These offices are buzzing with activity to get the best out of the domestic market after '05, when the product patent regime is implemented.

Confidence of these MNCs in India is at its peak. Investment plans are reportedly being ramped up 5-7 times for clinical trials in India. Further, some blockbuster products may soon hit domestic pharmacy shelves and domestic arms of MNC pharma companies are beefing up their legal teams for possible IPR battles with desi companies.

"The change to product patent regime is symbolic of India's serious intention of honouring IPR. We will now be more tempted to invest in clinical research and drug discovery from India. The country will then provide a much better research environment than China," Eli Lilly India's CEO, Rajiv Gulati, told ET.

In fact, companies are now seriously considering India a global hub for clinical trials. The likes of Pfizer, Aventis, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Organon are planning to leverage much of their drug development activity through their Indian arms.

"The guarantee for data exclusivity in India from '05 has done the trick," said BN Chakraborty, MD of Organon India. Aventis, which had earlier focused more on Phase II and IV studies in India, is now going for Phase III work in therapeutic areas of diabetes, cardiovascular and oncology.

Even the outsourced clinical research market in India is estimated to rise to $500m by '10. MNC giants are also planning to introduce many of their innovative researched products in India.

"The IPR regime will provide us the reassurance that we can bring the fruits of difficult R&D efforts to India without having the products unfairly copied. We at Pfizer India has formed a special team dedicated for analysing the products we can launch in the post-05 era," said S Ramkrishna, senior director, Pfizer.

However, there is a serious concern on rising litigation with desi companies. "There is already a lot of confusion on the business environment, which might increase clashes with Indian companies. Legal costs will rise at least till '08 before things settle a bit," Mr Gulati said.

"There are chances of misusing the rules by competition to gain backdoor access to patented products. Another issue, which is yet to be resolved, is the ability to price our new products appropriately, within a new price control regime," Mr Ramkrishna said.