WPI effect: 800 key drugs likely to see 10% price rise in April

While the NPPA may allow a 10 per cent rise in prices of NLEM drugs based on WPI this year, the actual price rise could be less, say drug firms

In what could be the highest-ever price hike allowed for scheduled drugs (or drugs under price control) in a long time, the national pharmaceutical (pharma) pricing regulator is likely to allow a price hike of 10 per cent in April due to steep rise in wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation. Scheduled drugs roughly constitute 17-18 per cent of the Rs 1.6-trillion domestic pharma market.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) fixes ceiling prices of drugs that come under price control under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013.

Every March, the regulator announces the quantum of jump pharma firms can take for