At a time when several Indian pharmaceutical companies are making their presence felt in the global markets by undercutting prices, US-based Eli Lilly is planning to do the same in India.

The company wants to introduce a new anti-diabetes drug in India, the world's largest diabetes drugs market, at almost one-third the price of available drugs.

The company's move is likely to kick off a major price war in the rapidly growing diabetes market in India, particularly among multinationals.

The exact pricing and other details of Eli Lilly's drug, however, could not be ascertained because they will be announced later on Friday.

Currently, Knoll Pharma, Aventis Pharma and US Vitamins are the largest players in the domestic anti-diabetes segment. Eli Lilly's drug could prove to be a boon for the large number of diabetes patients in India.

Industry analysts said there were over 20 million diabetes patients in India, a number expected to grow to almost 60 million in 20 years.

The domestic anti-diabetes drugs market is growing at over 25 per cent per annum, and is one of the fastest growing segments.

What is worse is that most diabetic patients in India are not diagnosed. Industry experts suspect that about two out of three people in urban India and three out of four in rural India suffer from the ailment. Hence, the potential of the market growing at an exponential rate is high.

The introduction of its anti-diabetes drug is only one of the initiatives Eli Lilly has lined up for India.

The company recently launched Xigris, a new drug for sepsis, an ailment caused by blood poisoning. Officials said the company was also looking at launching drugs to treat erectile dysfunction and mesothelioma (cancer of lung caused by asbestos fibres).