Pharma sector study: CCI starts consultation process with cos, doctors, other stakeholders

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday started a consultation process to gather views from pharmaceutical companies, doctors and other stakeholders as part of its ongoing study on the country's pharmaceutical sector.

The watchdog, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors, started the market study on the domestic pharmaceutical sector in October last year.

The study is being done with a view to developing a better understanding of the competition landscape in the sector.

''As part of the study, the CCI is conducting consultation with stakeholders (pharmaceutical companies, stockists, chemists, trade associations, doctors, sector experts and regulators). ''The idea behind the consultation is to gather insights on issues that may have a bearing on competition in the pharmaceutical market in India,'' the regulator said in a public notice.

The current study is focussing on the distribution segment of the pharmaceutical market in India with a view to understanding discounts, margins, policies at wholesale and retail levels of the distribution system, the role of trade association vis-a-vis various aspects of the distribution business, impact of e-commerce on price and competition, among other aspects.

In December last year, CCI Chairperson Ashok Kumar Gupta had said that quality, access and affordability of medicines are the key determinants for the overall quality of public health.

However, owing to the inherited information asymmetry in consumers and suppliers for medicines, markets by themselves may not deliver optimal outcomes in terms of these parameters, he had said.

CCI has been conducting various market studies to understand competition issues in different sectors.