Prices of commonly used medicines such as paracetamol, nimesulide, cetrizine and omeprazole are set to come down sharply. The price cuts would be effective from October 2. The who’s-who of the pharmaceutical industry assured Minister for chemicals and fertilisers Ramvilas Paswan they would voluntarily introduce margin caps of 15% for wholesale and 35% for retail on all control-free medicines, which represent about three-fourths of the market.
Cetrizine prices will come down by 94%: from Rs 34.80 to a maximum of Rs 1.8. Omeprazole will come fall from Rs 26 to less than Rs 2. While an understanding between drug makers and chemists for a 10% and 20% margin cap exist on most of these medicines, stratospheric margins exist in the case of about 7% of the total market, accounting for Rs 1,750 crore. An earlier government study found that trade margins are the highest on generic generic drugs - those that are sold primarily by the name of the active ingredient, say paracetamol, rather than by a brand name, say
Crocin. |
Mumbai’s civic authorities have embarked upon a major cleanliness drive which would make spitting and littering punishable offences. Commencing October, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai plans to introduce by-laws, which would attract a fine of Rs 500 if a person is caught spitting or bathing or littering in a public place and Rs 10,000 for co-operative societies that do not maintain clean premises, according to R.A. Rajeev, additional municipal commissioner.
This is perhaps the first civic body in the country to introduce such fines. Housing societies or complexes keeping their premises dirty, storing waste outside the designated area, storing waste in unspecified bins or failing to segregate them as specified will also attract fines ranging between Rs 1,000-to-Rs 10,000.
Similarly, generators of commercial waste like hotels, shops, hawkers and vendors, will be fined between Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 for not keeping waste bins, not segregating the waste or keeping their premises filthy. Parking a car while municipal sweeping operations are on, will also invite a fine of Rs 5,000. |
