Lok Sabha Question No. 3866 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-17
Subject: Recommendation on price Control by NITI Aayog
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Sanjay Jaiswal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3866

TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 th  March, 2020

## Recommendation on price Control by NITI Aayog

## 3866. DR. SANJAY JAISWAL:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  NITI  Aayog  is  now  giving  recommendations  on  price control to NPPA and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether these recommendations are binding in nature:
- (c)  if  not,  the  details  of  recommendations  on  price  control  which  have  not  been accepted; and
- (d)  the  reforms  taken  up  in  NPPA  to  improve  its  functioning  during  the  last  three years?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (SHRI D. V. SADANANDA GOWDA)

- (a): Standing Committee on Affordable Medicines and Health Products (SCAMHP) under the chairmanship of Member (Health), NITI Aayog was constituted vide Order dated 21 st January, 2019 of Department of Pharmaceuticals. On National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)'s request the committee made  the following recommendations:
- (i) In  its  first  meeting  dated  25 th February,  2019,  the  SCAMHP  made recommendation regarding the modalities of Trade Margin Rationalisation of select non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines.
- (ii) In its second meeting dated 07 th  November, 2019, the SCAMHP made recommendations regarding upward price revisions of scheduled formulations which were becoming unviable.
- (b): The recommendations of SCAMHP are not binding in nature.
- (c): In  the  second  meeting  regarding  upward  price  revision  of  select  scheduled formulations, SCAMHP recommended that subsequent annual price increase would be 10% for a period of 3 years. The recommendation was deliberated upon in the Authority  meeting  dated  09 th December,  2019  wherein  it  was  decided  that  the subsequent annual price revision for such 21 scheduled formulations would be as per the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
- (d): The  following  initiatives  have  been  taken  to  improve  the  functioning  of  the NPPA:-

(i) The Government has directed NPPA to place a draft version of price calculation sheets on the website of NPPA for 10 clear working days to invite comments  from  affected  pharma  firms.  Only  after  taking  into  account  the comments or any additional data thus received within the given time period, the NPPA shall finalize the ceiling and retail prices.

(ii) The NPPA has cleared the backlog of retail price applications and the pendency has been brought to concurrent level. (iii) For  greater  awareness  in  public,  NPPA  has  launched  Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign. The NPPA has set up Price Monitoring and Resource Units (PMRUs) under  the  'Consumer  Awareness  Publicity  and  Price  Monitoring  (CAPPM) Scheme' in  the  eleven  (11)  States  viz.  Kerala,  Gujarat,  Odisha,  Rajasthan, Punjab,  Haryana,  Nagaland,  Tripura,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Andhra  Pradesh  and

(iv) Mizoram till date.

(v) Stakeholder  consultations  are  held  from  time  to  time  for  important issues.

(vi) Two Pharma economic experts have been inducted in the Multidisciplinary  Committee  of  Experts  to  enable  reasoned  consideration  of claims on separate pricing for R&D promotion.

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