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Nithya Subramanian

New Delhi , Aug. 20

PHARMACEUTICAL majors are perturbed about the Government's intentions to monitor prices of drugs with a turnover of over Rs 1 crore. Top officials of companies expressed concerns about the growing Government intervention.

According to Dr Brian Tempest, CEO and Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, "It would be welcome to have less Government intervention. India has the lowest drug prices around the world and the need for intervention is difficult to understand. If one tinkers with such matters (as controlling prices), the law of dynamics take over - that is for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction."

Pharma company chiefs fear problems related to availability of drugs as well as lower investment in the sector. Mr Rajiv Gulati, Chairman and Managing Director, Eli Lilly and Company (India) Pvt Ltd said, "This decision is a u-turn of the earlier policy. In the last few years, the prices of drugs outside control have decreased in absolute terms. It has not even risen in line with inflation. Price control can have a negative impact." Also, it was felt that investments in the sector could dry up if returns were hurt.

A similar view was expressed by Mr Raghu Cidambi, Advisor, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd who said that the reforms in the last 10 years have been towards decontrolling the industry. "Competition benefits the consumer by bringing down the prices," he said.

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