Drug wholesellers form firm to foray into organised retail

To counter the challenge posed by big players' entry in the drug retail business, countrywide pharmacy owners have formed a company, All India Origin Chemists and Distributors, to foray into organised retail.

"With the entry of large players a challenge is emerging for small traders. To counter that our 13,000 members from across the country have come together to form a joint firm, All India Origin Chemists and Distributors (AIOCD)," association of pharmacy owners All India Organisation of Chemists & Druggists President J S Shinde told PTI.

He said the members have contributed around Rs 13 crore to create the drug retailing firm. The sum would be mostly spent on providing training to members and in purchasing software for standardising the procedures.

"Currently, we are providing training to our members in standardised procedures of organised retail, so that they could also modify their business accordingly to become a partner in the trade," Shinde said.
    
After getting trained, AIOCD members would rebrand their shops under a single identity to join the retail pharmacy chain.
    
AIOCD has also announced the launch of its own generic products through a separate division Java.
    
The company has launched around 100 products, mostly in chronic, acute and lifestyle disease segment in 15 states. It is eyeing a revenue of Rs 100 crore in the next financial year through private label products.
    
"We are getting these medicines produced under contract manufacturing from excise free zones like Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and these products would be sold at a lower price then existing branded generics," Shinde said.
    
The All India Organisation of Chemists & Druggists claims it has over 5.5 lakh members from across the country and they account for almost 95 per cent of the overall pharma business in India.