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NEW DELHI: Faced with a possible ban, online retailers in the drugs and medicines space are now hoping that the government would put in regulations rather than going for an outright ban on e-pharmacy.
A top e-pharmacy player told this newspaper the industry representatives had met government officials recently and they assured them that the Centre would not hurt this sector as there is a huge amount of foreign investment. But they would regulate the sector to prevent sale of spurious medicines,” the industry insider said on condition of anonymity. However, when TNIE sounded out the health ministry officials, they seemed firm on their stand.
Experts said spurious sale of drugs and medicines is just not prevalent in the online space but in brick and mortar stores too. So to put a complete ban on online sale of drugs and medicines would not solve the problem. Moreover, the online sector played a critical role during the Covid pandemic, so the government should consider that too before taking stringent action.
The ministry has sent show cause notices to nearly 31 firms including biggies like Amazon, Flipkart, Tata 1mg, Apollo Pharmacy, Practo, among others, for ban on e-pharmacy. Experts say if ban is imposed on online sale of drugs, then it would hurt majorly Tata 1mg and Apollo Pharmacy, which have invested hugely in this segment.
“It wouldn’t be much of a fight for Amazon, as it is only providing a platform to the firms to sell medicines. But it would hurt companies like Tata 1mg and Apollo Pharmacy, as they are big time engaged in this segment,” one of the experts said. However, other experts said many players are using Amazon platform to sell online drugs, and therefore it would lose revenue share if the government goes ahead with the ban.
As per government sources, it is likely many firms will have to take court’s route to safeguard their online businesses. In February, after the Centre issued notices to the firms, the Forum for Internet Retailers, Sellers and Traders (FIRST) in a letter to it, saying the online sellers have access to larger market, strong supply chain, better price discovery, data management enabling tracking of orders placed and being able to run businesses more efficiently.
