In a proactive action to avoid confrontation with the authorities, the Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI) has asked its more than 3000 members to voluntarily reduce the prices of drugs from 5 to 7 per cent immediately to pass on the excise benefit to the consumers. The CIPI will soon submit a list of medicines on which prices have been slashed to the national drug price regulator NPPA.
The CIPI's measure is seen as a clear message to the government that it fully cooperates with the government in passing on the excise benefit to the consumers. After the reduction of excise duty, Union chemicals minister Ramvilas Paswan has been pulling all stops to ensure that the drug companies pass on the excise benefit to the consumers. With general election looming large on the horizon, Paswan is also under pressure to reduce the drug prices, as reduction of prices of essential drugs was one of the election promises of the UPA government.
The price reduction, which will please both the authorities and the consumers alike, will not be limited to the price controlled drugs only but will include the non-scheduled drugs also. The extent of reduction will depend on each product and will vary between 5 to 7 per cent, CIPI chairman T Jaishankar said.
Ever since the government reduced the excise duty from 16 to 8 per cent in the Union Budget, both the finance and chemicals ministries have been asking the drug companies to pass on the excise benefit to the consumers immediately. In fact, the NPPA has issued a notification asking the drug makers to immediately reduce the price rise.