Centre may cap trade margins for drugs in stages; companies oppose plans

The Centre is considering rationalising trade margins for drugs first at 45 per cent and gradually lowering them and capping them at 30 per cent, possibly starting with one drug category at a time, such as antibiotics and pain and analgesics. Business Standard has learnt that some of the drug majors such as Cipla and Alkem, among others, have opposed the proposal because they have a sizeable business in unbranded generic medicines. 

While the trade margins for branded generics are standardised by trade, the margins vary in the case of unbranded generics. An email sent to Cipla did not elicit