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Informist, Tuesday, May 19, 2026

By Gunjan Rajput

 

NEW DELHI – Chemists across India, who are joining a nationwide strike Wednesday, are seeing their already-thin profit margins getting squeezed by the rapid expansion and deep discounting of e-pharmacy and quick-commerce medicine delivery platforms, according to Jagannath Shinde, president of the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists. "Medicine is the only commodity in India where prices and trade margins are fixed by the government," Shinde told Informist. "Retailers earn only 16-20% margin. It is impossible for our people (chemists) to offer 25-50% discounts like online companies are giving."

According to Shinde, corporate-backed online platforms are "burning capital" to capture market share and create monopolies in the pharmaceutical retail segment. More than 1.25 million chemists across India will join the nationwide strike to protest against the expansion of e-pharmacies and quick-commerce medicine delivery platforms that brick-and-mortar retailers say are severely hurting their business. The protest has been called by Shinde's organisation.

 

The strike is also aimed at demanding the withdrawal of certain notifications issued during the COVID-19 pandemic that had enabled home delivery of medicines and, according to the association, opened the door for the misuse of online drug sales. Shinde said online sales of medicines have led to the circulation of fake drugs and the sale of scheduled medicines without proper prescriptions, posing a serious public health risk.

 

According to him, the issue has intensified with quick-commerce platforms entering medicine delivery. "Earlier it was only e-pharmacies, but now Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart have also entered the segment. Medicines are being delivered within minutes," he said, alleging that narcotic and scheduled drugs could become just as easily accessible without proper checks. He said the current framework does not adequately verify prescriptions or ensure pharmacist-supervised dispensing as mandated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. He said medicines must be dispensed by a pharmacist, who must guide patients on dosage, storage, and usage.

 

A Delhi-based pharmacist told Informist that offline retailers had seen a steep fall in business due to rising online competition. "Earlier my daily sales used to be around INR 250,000-INR 300,000, but now it has narrowed to INR 100,000 because of online pharmacies," the retailer said.

 

Shinde said wholesalers are also under pressure because they are being forced to provide additional discounts to retailers to help them compete. "Wholesalers are also dying. From their already-limited margins, they are giving additional discounts to retailers," he said. The association also alleged that companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Tata 1mg, and MedPlus are exploiting pandemic-era relaxations in regulations to expand online medicine sales aggressively.

 

The strike is likely to affect medical supplies in several states, although major organised pharmacy chains and online platforms are expected to remain operational. When Informist contacted stores operated by Apollo Pharmacy and Tata 1mg in Delhi, representatives said the stores would remain open on Wednesday.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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