In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, India has put under restricted category exports of certain active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulations, including Paracetamol, Vitamin B1 and B12.

Now, export of 26 APIs and formulations require licence from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. "Export of specified APIs and formulations made from these APIs...is hereby restricted with immediate effect and till further orders, " the DGFT said in the notification.

The news boosted Indian pharma stocks. The NSE Nifty Pharma Index gained as much as 2.6 percent, making it the best sectoral performer for the day.

To be sure, India's pharma industry has been in focus since the coronavirus outbreak triggered factory shutdowns in China—a major supplier of APIs to Indian drugmakers.

On Feb. 18, industry body India Pharmaceutical Alliance said the sector has enough stock of APIs for 2-3 months only. Following this, on Feb. 20, ratings agency ICRA Ltd. revised its outlook for the India's pharma industry to negative from stable.

The restrictions on exports, then, can be seen as a breather for an industry already grappling with declining sales for the past two months.