India weighs pharmacy licence ratio to stop wholesale permits being used for retail sales

The Indian government is exploring a fixed ratio between wholesale and retail pharmacy licences, a move designed to prevent wholesale permits from being routinely exploited to conduct over-the-counter retail trade.

Under the proposal, the permitted number of wholesale licences in any given area would be calculated against local population figures, the prevailing disease burden and how densely pharmacies are already distributed across a region.

Officials believe the measure would also reduce the significant variation in licensing practices that currently exists from state to state, bringing greater consistency to the regulation of pharmaceutical distribution nationwide.