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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Tuesday observed that selling essential medicines to patients at inflated prices is daylight robbery. The top court noted that there are essential medicines for cancer, for which the maximum retail price is INR 27,000 and the price to the retailer is only INR 2,700. "If that is not extortion, what else is it?" questioned the court, adding that people sell their ornaments to secure the medicines.

 

"That is absolute rampage and carnage and broad daylight dacoity with the patients. How can a patient be cheated for a medicine which the manufacturer sells to the retailer at INR 2,700 and MRP (maximum retail price) is printed at INR 27,000?" asked a Bench of Justice Vikarm Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta. It is surprising that the authorities supposed to take a decision on this are absolutely silent, said the bench. 

 

The inflated pricing structure results in systemic fraud on the public exchequer when medical expenses are reimbursed under state health schemes, said the court. "When patients are taking treatment under Ayushman Bharat scheme, this whole price has to be paid by the taxpayers. Hospitals are buying medicines at these prices and then reimbursing from the government. It's ultimately taxpayer's money. There is a clear-cut case of fraud," said the top court.

 

The court questioned why manufacturers should be permitted to fix the maximum retail price several times higher than the actual sale price. "Why this disparity at all? A medicine which is, as a matter of fact, sold by the manufacturer to the retailer at 10% of its MRP, why it has got this high MRP? Why should there be such disparity?" it asked. 

 

"A tablet of Rosuvas - a strip costs about INR 214 because it is not in the scheduled drugs controlled under DPCO (Drug Pricing Control Order). And if Rosuvas contains a combination of aspirin, it comes within DPCO scheduled medicines and costs INR 70. Though a combination should be costlier, the disparity is there," said the court. If all medicines were brought under a unified price-fixation umbrella, the controversy surrounding mandatory generic prescriptions might become redundant, said the court.

 

The top court was hearing a petition by Kishan Chand Jain seeking mandatory generic drug prescriptions, strict initial price controls on non-scheduled medicines and maximum retail price caps on medical devices. Under the Drug Price Control Order, 2013, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority fixes ceiling prices for only 1,000 scheduled drugs, leaving nearly 82% of medicines in the market non-scheduled, said the petitioner.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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