The outstanding arrears by pharmaceutical companies on the grounds of overcharging continued to increase steadily with Cipla remaining the leader of the pack, even as the recovery attempts by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Agency (NPPA) did not improve in proportion to the rise in the arrears.


According to the latest list published by the NPPA, the agency sent out demand notices to the companies in 804 cases for a total recovery of Rs.2350.28 crore till May 31. The total recovered amount stood at Rs.210.20 crore, since the inception of the price monitoring agency.


Though all the major pharma companies find their way in the default roaster, Cipla Ltd continued to lead the tally with a total of nearly Rs.1400 crore, which accounted for more than 60 per cent of the total dues owed by the entire pharma industry of the country. Sources said most the cases with Cipla are in the courts still. Big companies figured in the list included Cadila, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck.


During the last four months, the NPPA has sent notices in 18 cases, demanding over Rs.22 crore. The recovery during this period stood merely at Rs.2.14 crore. According to the previous compiled list as on January 31 this year, the total number of cases were 786 and the total arrears were Rs.2328.52 crore. The total amount recovered by the end of January was Rs.207.86 crore.


Till October 31, 2010, the total arrears were Rs.2208 crore, thus arrears grew by Rs.142 crore in the six months whereas the recovery was to the tune of Rs.8 crore during the same period. The NPPA has intensified efforts to recover the outstanding arrears in the recent years. As part of the measures, the NPPA has also started referring overcharging cases to district collectors of concerned States for revenue recovery.