Delay in notification of rules affecting the fast growing e-pharma sector in India

The e-pharmacy industry has urged the government for immediate release of new e-Pharmacy Rules without any further delay. Digital Health Platforms, which is an association of entrepreneurs operating in digital health Industry on Tuesday raised their concern on the impact of the delay in the industry. The indecision on the rules by the government is making it tough for investors to invest in online pharmacies, making it hard to retain employees and challenging the trust of consumers.

According to industry players, the e-Pharmacy model is well covered under the regulatory purview by the IT Act 2000 under the concept of intermediaries and the pharmacy retail operations are covered under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

“Post a very detailed and thorough consultative process, the ministry had issued some draft notification for e-Pharmacy last August. However, these continued long policy/procedural issues are continuing to cause issues around ease of doing business in this space and a simple and clear regulatory pathway is a prerequisite for innovation to thrive in this important sector, “ said Prashant Tandon, Founder and CEO, 1mg.

Currently, the e-pharmacy sector is providing quality and affordable medicines to around 50 lakh patients per month, across the country. With current market size of approximately 2000-3000 crore, and prospective to grow at about CAGR of over 20% by 2024; the sector provides employment to around 30,000 skilled professionals and has the capacity to create huge number of job opportunities. Till date, the e-Pharmacy sector has attracted over US$ 500 million from Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA) members, alone, the release mentioned.
“We have worked hard to build the online pharmacy sector from something that didn’t exist five years back. We have not only set global standards in creating technology and Artificial Intelligence to digitize this complex sector, but have also generated huge databases of healthcare information and contributed analytics with beneficial information about patients, chronic disease sufferers, and provided a deep-dive into health problems faced by people from different cities and states, ” said Pradeep Dadha, Founder and CEO, Netmeds.

“We eagerly look forward to increasing our contribution by working hand-in-hand with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the Ayushman Bharath Yojana take root,” he added.