Incidentally, China and India are the top exporters of drugs to Nigeria, where foreign-made pharmaceuticals account for 60 percent of the market.

While Brand India has not taken a beating due to Nigeria's quick action, Ohri suggested there was still the need to conduct a public information campaign about Indian products coming to Nigeria.

He also said his organisation had already taken steps to be more 'vigilant' to detect counterfeit drugs at the ports of entry itself.

Ohri, who had an interaction with representatives of Indian pharma companies at the Federation of Indian Chamber for Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Tuesday, made it clear his country did not plan to define counterfeit drugs to include generics.

'Nigeria will not define counterfeit to include generics, because we know the importance of generics,' he said.

This was the assurance that the Indian government and industry had been looking for.

'We had learned that some African countries were bring law that says that if a drug is patented in the US and not in India, it will be treated as counterfeit. This (Nigerian) stand clears up the matter for us. This means they are very welcoming to generic medicines, which is our forte,' said Devendra Chaudhary, joint secretary in the department of pharmaceuticals of the chemicals ministry.

Africa accounts for 15 percent of India's pharma exports worth $6.32 billion.