CCI commences consultation process for pharma study

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

The watchdog, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors, started the market study on the domestic pharma 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 (pharma 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 pharma market in India,” the regulator said in a public notice.

The current study is focusing on the distribution segment of the pharma 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, Ashok Kumar Gupta, CCI Chairperson 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.