The Competition Commission of India (CCI) chief Ashok Kumar Gupta has said that the CCI will identify measures to enhance competition in the country's pharmaceutical sector for ensuring affordability of drugs after analysing findings of its market study, which is likely to be concluded within a month.
Gupta stated that the CCI, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices as well as promotes fair competition across sectors, initiated the pharmaceutical sector study after observing demand-side issues, such as lack of effective consumer choice. He said after analysing the findings of the study, CCI plan to come out with observations on various aspects in the sector that can improve market outcomes. He said currently, it appears that, when it comes to medicines, competition is primarily on the basis of brands and not prices.
CCI chief further said that the study will identify measures to increase competition for ensuring affordability of drugs. He noted that market studies were initiated in the pharmaceutical and telecom sectors, given their significance in the ‘new COVID-19-induced socio-economic milieu’. He said the watchdog has been supplementing enforcement actions by commissioning market studies to have a better understanding about market structures and competition issues.
