The nuts, bolts and bottlenecks of setting up an e-pharmacy in India

Online drug sellers are set to disrupt the brick-and-mortar retailer, provided they are willing and able to meet a difficult, albeit reasonable regime of compliance

Few would disagree that selling drugs online is a killer of a business that has the potential to literally change the way in which prescription drugs and other formulations are dispensed in the country. Yet, setting up an e-pharmacy has become much more complex than, say, establishing an online business selling consumer goods or financial services. The key reason for this is the highly ethics-driven regulatory environment in which an e-commerce pharma enterprise resides -- or is likely to reside in once the new rules kick in.

The existing scenario

It isn't as if e-pharmacies have not been existing in