Lok Sabha Question No. 2791 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-17
Subject: Jan Aushadhi Kendras
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Dulal Chandra Goswami

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

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2791 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 th  March, 2023

## Jan Aushadhi Kendras

## †2791. SHRI DULAL CHANDRA GOSWAMI:

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

- (a) the details on the difference between the prices of branded and generic medicines;
- (b)  whether  the  prices  of  branded  medicines  are  determined  by  the  companies  in  arbitrary manner or there is any price determination mechanism for this purpose and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the number of Jan Aushadhi Kendra set up under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) with an objective to provide generic medicines to patients along with the State-wise details thereof;
- (d) whether the patients are forced to purchase branded medicines due to the unavailability of generic medicines at Jan Aushadhi Kendras and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the details on amount of funds spent on promotion of PMBJP during the last five years, yearwise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (SHRI BHAGWANTH KHUBA)

(a)  and (b): The term 'Generic Medicine' has not been specifically defined in the Drug and Cosmetics  Act,  1940  and  Rules,  1945  made  thereunder.  However,  generic  medicines  are considered  as  those  medicines  those  generally  contain  same  amount  of  same  active ingredient(s) in same dosage form and are intended to be administered by the same route of administration as that of branded medicine. The price of an unbranded generic version of a medicine  (commonly  referred  to  as  traded  generic)  is  often  lower  than  the  price  of  a corresponding branded medicine because in case of generic version.

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)  under the Department of Pharmaceuticals  fixes  the  ceiling  prices  of  scheduled  formulations  (branded  or  generic) included  in  Schedule-I  of  the  Drugs  (Prices  Control)  Order,  2013.  All  manufacturers  of scheduled medicines have to sell their products within the ceiling price (plus applicable Goods and Service Tax) fixed by the NPPA. Annual revision of ceiling prices of scheduled medicines is permissible, based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities in the preceding year.  As regard other non-scheduled formulations (branded or generic), a manufacturer is at liberty to fix the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of the same. However, no manufacturer can increase the MRP by more than 10% of MRP during preceding 12 months.

With an objective of making quality generic medicines available at affordable prices to the citizens, especially the poor and the deprived ones, Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) was launched by the Government. Under the Scheme, dedicated outlets known as Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) are opened to provide quality generic medicines at affordable prices. The price of Jan Aushadhi Medicines under the scheme are cheaper at least by 50% and in some cases cheaper by 80% to 90% of the market price of branded medicines.

(c)  and  (d):   About  9182  PMBJKs  have  been  opened  across  the  country  till  28.02.2023. State/UT- wise list of PMBJKs is enclosed as Annexure .  The product basket of medicines presently  consists  of  1759  drugs  and  generally  all  essential  medicines  are  available  at  the Kendras. The availability  of medicines is  ensured by Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), the Implementing Agency of the Scheme through implementation of an  Information  Technology  (IT)  enabled  End-to-End  supply  chain  system  and  SAP  based inventory management system and a strong network of four warehouses and 36 distributors all corners of the nation.

(e) The details of the funds spent on promotion of PMBJP during last five financial years are as under:

|   Sl. No. | Financial Year   |   Funds spent on promotion of PMBJP (Rs. in Crore) |
|-----------|------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | 2017-18          |                                               4.76 |
|         2 | 2018-19          |                                               6.5  |
|         3 | 2019-20          |                                               5.7  |
|         4 | 2020-21          |                                              12.77 |
|         5 | 2021-22          |                                              10.48 |

## Statement referred to in part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 2791 for answer on 17.03.2023  raised  by  SHRI  DULAL  CHANDRA  GOSWAM regarding Jan Aushadhi Kendras

| Sl. No.     | Name of the State/UT                   |   No. of PMBJK opened |
|-------------|----------------------------------------|-----------------------|
| 1           | Andaman And Nicobar Islands            |                     9 |
| 2           | Andhra Pradesh                         |                   146 |
| 3           | Arunachal Pradesh                      |                    29 |
| 4           | Assam                                  |                   110 |
| 5           | Bihar                                  |                   359 |
| 6           | Chandigarh                             |                     9 |
| 7           | Chhattisgarh                           |                   200 |
| 8           | Delhi                                  |                   387 |
| 9           | Goa                                    |                    11 |
| 10          | Gujarat                                |                   521 |
| 11          | Haryana                                |                   232 |
| 12          | Himachal Pradesh                       |                    60 |
| 13          | Jammu And Kashmir                      |                   220 |
| 14          | Jharkhand                              |                    84 |
| 15          | Karnataka                              |                  1050 |
| 16          | Kerala                                 |                   977 |
| 17          | Ladakh                                 |                     2 |
| 18          | Lakshwadeep*                           |                     0 |
| 19          | Madhya Pradesh                         |                   272 |
| 20          | Maharashtra                            |                   640 |
| 21          | Manipur                                |                    35 |
| 22          | Meghalaya                              |                    16 |
| 23          | Mizoram                                |                    12 |
| 24          | Nagaland                               |                    20 |
| 25          | Odisha                                 |                   399 |
| 26          | Puducherry                             |                    20 |
| 27          | Punjab                                 |                   314 |
| 28          | Rajasthan                              |                   149 |
| 29          | Sikkim                                 |                     4 |
| 30          | Tamil Nadu                             |                   872 |
| 31          | Telangana                              |                   179 |
| 32          | The Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu |                    35 |
| 33          | Tripura                                |                    25 |
| 34          | Uttar Pradesh                          |                  1324 |
| 35          | Uttarakhand                            |                   223 |
| 36          | West Bengal                            |                   237 |
| Grand Total | Grand Total                            |                  9182 |

* Medicines are directly supplied to the administration of UT of Lakshwadeep

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