Glimepiride

Kolkata: Despite the central govt's directive to sell medicines at new rates following the GST revision, several neighbourhood stores and some pharmacy chains in Kolkata are still selling medicines at old rates. The Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association ( BCDA ), the nodal organisation of medicine wholesalers and retailers in the city, has urged the state drug control and the GST authorities to take steps against the errant shop owners. After the new GST rates came into effect, medicine manufacturers already sent batch-wise lists of medicines to every retailer. For example, if a strip of Glimepiride (1 mg) was earlier being sold at Rs 42.1 Maximum Retail Price (MRP), its price was reduced to Rs 39.4 after Sept 22. Similarly, a strip of Rosuvastatin (10 mg), which was earlier being sold at an MRP of Rs 369 per strip, is now priced at Rs 345.9. However, a section of retail chains and neighbourhood stores continued with the old MRP. "They are trying to dupe customers by offering a lump sum discount on the billed amount. But they should apply the GST reduction first and then apply any further discount," said Somnath Ghosh of Metro Pharma . After the reduction in GST from Sept 22, customers should get at least a 6.2% reduction in their medicine bills. Although the GST reduction for most of the medicines is from 18% and 12% to 5%, the effective benefit to customers is 11% and 6.2%. This is due to calculations based on the differential between the price-to-stockist (PTS) and price-to-retailer (PTR). "We have sent posters of the price difference to every member across the state and made it mandatory for them to display that at a prominent place. Unfortunately, many of these errant shop owners are not our members," said Prithwi Bose, general secretary of the BCDA. There are nearly 3,000 BCDA-registered neighbourhood pharmacies in the city, and a notice from the association was served on them on Sept 22. While some of the retailers are finding it difficult to charge a lower amount of GST on products purchased before Sept 22, they will be compensated the amount as input credit in the future. "There is no shortage of stock, and retailers are getting products at a reduced GST rate now. They cannot charge a customer on the old MRP," said Subir Sen of carrying and forwarding agent, Senodrugs . "We do not have any authority to penalise the errant shop owner. However, we have asked the state drug control and GST authorities to take steps," Bose said. By Rohit Khanna ,