MRP of drug to include local tax: Paswan

SHILLONG: From October 2, the printed Maximum Retail Price on any drug would also include local tax and buyers would not have to pay any additional price over it, Union Chemcial and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Sunday.

What happended now was the sellers added local taxes over and above the MRP printed on the drugs, thus forcing a buyer to pay more, Paswan told reporters here asserting that practice would be stopped.

The ministry, which controlled the price of 74 medicines, was formulating a policy, Paswan said. It decided to bring all the 354 'essential' drugs under its control to check arbitrary pricing by the manufacturers.

The manufacturers were given time from July 1 to October 2 to dispose of the existing stock and the new practice would start from October two next, the union minister said.

The ministry also asked the manufacturers to start printing the MRP in Hindi apart from English from October 2 this year.

 Paswan said the turnover of the market was Rs 25,000 crore and there was always a tendency of some manipulation on price.