Pharma sales remain subdued in first week

Drug makers have offered 6.5-8.5% incentives to stockists

The first week of July did not witness a pickup in pharmaceutical sales because of delays in the goods and services tax (GST) registration by stockists, besides software-related problems.

In the first week of July, stockists held 17 days of inventory, which was similar to June-end stock and  23 days lower from May-end high.

Stockists had reduced inventory last month, ahead of GST implementation, fearing loss of margins. They had not taken fresh stocks before the implementation, waiting to pick up fresh stocks after the new tax is rolled out. This, it was widely believed, would lead to an increase