the Essential Commodities Act 1955

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AGRI-SPACE AS A KEY INVESTMENT DESTINATION

1. Background

  • India is an agrarian economy. It has the second highest population in the world, as well as the second highest arable land area in the world. With rising demand and natural resources under pressure, agriculture as a sector is drawing sharp attention from a necessity as well as interest perspective.
  • It must be noted that the agri-sector has wide reach, as it covers within its ambit not just the core cultivation sector, but also allied sectors that are just as critical. In recent times and, more specifically in 2020, the Indian government has also made special efforts to support this wider sector.
  • Hereunder, we will share a brief overview of the recent reforms in the sector and the viability of the sector from an investors’ point of view.

Continue Reading Agri-Space as a Key Investment Destination : Some Thoughts

To Regulate or Not To Regulate DPCO 2013 and The Modi-Mundi Pharma Case

Drug price control has been a source of considerable agony to the pharmaceutical industry. Price caps on drugs, though flowing from a larger public interest perspective, has the power to throttle growth of the industry and limit availability of new life saving-drugs to the public at large. It is much to the chagrin of the major players and their business models. The Government has of course adopted the public comes first policy, which has also seen considerable support by the courts. Right or wrong depends on which side of the street one is on.

Price control as a measure has met with its fair share of challenges and is, as a policy issue, here to stay. Interpretation of price control regulations (DPCO) on the other hand is still a topic for many a contentious litigation before courts. The most recent one is a case where the Hon’ble Delhi High Court on July 17, 2018, passed a judgment in the case of Modi-MundiPharma Pvt. Ltd. v Union of India & Ors[1]. Here, the court opined that drugs developed through incremental innovation or a novel drug delivery system could only be included under the National List of Essential Medicines 2015 (NLEM) for the purpose of fixing the ceiling price, procurement etc. if they were explicitly listed. In other words, the court clarified on what kind of drugs are included.Continue Reading To Regulate or Not To Regulate: DPCO 2013 and The Modi-Mundi Pharma Case