The Bangalore District Chemists and Druggists Association (BDCDA) has urged the Union government to take a re-look at the new Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013 to revise the trade margins apart from other issues which include payment of local taxes like value added tax (VAT) and excise duty.

The Association also wants the sales tax department to withdraw their circular on uploading of purchase & sales data and consider their memorandum vide BDCDA/1795/14 of June 10, 2014.

The Association has requested the Karnataka health minister to make amendments on granting retail licenses. It has requested the government to take actions as per Drugs & Cosmetics Act on any retail licensee engaged in home delivery and online sales.

“The DPCO and tax issues have complicated the lives of the pharmacy trade and the government should look to support the future of 7.5 lakh chemists in the country,” said V Harikrishnan, president, BDCDA and Karnataka Chemists and Druggists Association,

“We have been pleading to the government to revise the retail  margins from the current 16 per cent to 20 per cent on MRP and wholesaler margins should be fixed at 10 per cent on price to retailer (PTR) basis. In the wake of the high inflationary trends, there have been revisions in salaries across the government and private sectors. The pharmacy trade can only generate its revenues  from the trade margins which are fixed by the government,” he added.

“The DPCO 2013 based on the market based price model has been devised as the pharma industry needs. The government while approving this new drug price order has ignored the pharmacy trade. We are of the view that the new government needs to take a relook at the DPCO 2013 which needs to support the wholesalers and retailers,” said Krishnan.

“The need of the hour for the chemist fraternity is to request for a modification of several paras of DPCO 2013 and also incorporate trade margins to wholesaler and retailers of pharma trade. We have also asked for separate margins for those outlets in urban and rural zones,” he said.

As far as BDCDA is concerned, we have already indicated to the Karnataka government and requested for necessary amendments for payment of taxes by pharma manufacturers or marketers on their offerings of stocks. In this regard, the state commissioner of commercial taxes has assured for the amendment on the payment of taxes as per the provisions of the DPCO 2013, said Krishnan.

In case GST is introduced in 2016, BDCDA requests the state government to amend GST on MRP, as per DPCO 2013’s Payment of Taxes (Local Taxes).

The BDCDA president also came down heavily on the Jan Aushadhi stores and the online pharmacy initiatives that are only pathways to push the owners of chemists and druggists to financial crisis.