The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), announced an increase in the price of 800 drugs from April 1. Prices of over the counter (OTC) medicines, often used for fever or gastrointestinal disorders would rise and it would take 20-30 days for the new batch of drugs to arrive and the new prices to become effective.

The prices rise was decided, following the government’s decision to allow an increase of over 10% for scheduled drugs, including pain killers, antibiotics and anti-infective. For the scheduled drugs, which are under price control, the increase is 10.7%, while for the non-controlled drugs the increase might be as high as 20%. Some druggists and chemists told that medicines for diabetes, blood pressure or cardiac disorders were under price control, but some of the new drugs which were used mostly during Covid, would not fall under the price controlled category.

Sajal Ganguly, secretary of the Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association (BCDA) stated that OTC products would see a 20% hike in price and Bengal, being the highest consumption of medicines in eastern India would be the most affected. 

Rajiv Singhal, general secretary of All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) said that for other patented drugs under the non-scheduled category, the price rise would depend on the price of active pharmaceutical ingredients used in manufacturing them.

Source: ET Healthworld