Blip in Kolkata medicine supply ahead of GST change; pharmacies delay purchases, stocks to normalise
Times of India | 15 September 2025
KOLKATA: Medicine supply has suddenly hit a bump in the city as retailers and manufacturers wait for the new GST rates to kick in from Sept 22. Tax on all medicines have been reduced to 5% from 12%, while 33 lifesaving and three cancer drugs have been completely exempted.
Wary of being stranded with medicines with a higher MRP, pharmacies are delaying purchases and waiting for fresh stocks to arrive around Sept 22. At the same time, manufacturers are rushing to print new prices on fresh batches to meet the deadline.
"Most retailers are unwilling to buy medicines at 12% GST fearing they may not be able to exhaust the stock by Sept 21. So, many retailers will have low stock till then," said Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association general secretary Prithwi Bose.
Somnath Ghosh of Metro Pharma said, "Pipeline stocks have already started drying up since manufacturers are now printing new MRPs. We have earlier seen that it takes almost a month for supplies to normalise every time there is a change in price."
While wholesalers will start supplying medicines at reduced rates from Sept 22, it will take time to adequately refill stocks of nearly 25,000 retail drug stores across the state.
Besides, restrictions on movement of goods vehicles during Durga Puja would lead to further delays.
"Truck movement will be severely restricted across the state during the pujas. Many carrying and forwarding agents will also remain closed till almost Lakshmi Puja. So, by the end of Sept, there will be minimal supplies of medicines. The situation will normalise only after that," said Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association general secretary Prithwi Bose.
Keeping tabs on changed prices from Sept 22 will also be a challenge for large retailers. Pharmacy chains like Dhanwantary and Metro Pharma, who have anything between 10,000 and 17,000 variants of medicines in their stock, would have to carry out changes for each item in their billing software.
"We will start updating our billing software after Sept 21 midnight. This will be a challenging task for large retailers and even more difficult for small ones," said Rajendra Khandelwal of Dhanwantary Pharma.