Strict guidelines to regulate e-pharmacies selling Ayurvedic medicines on cards

(Representative image)

The Consumer Affairs Ministry informed on July 14 that it will soon release strict guidelines to regulate e-pharmacies and e-commerce websites selling Ayurvedic medicines. These guidelines would be in sync with existing guidelines for e-pharmacies and e-commerce portals.

The guidelines will help educate both sellers and consumers about adverse the effects of arbitrarily consuming such medicines, CNBC-TV18 reported, quoting sources.

Further, these guidelines would prohibit the sale of Ayurvedic medicines without a valid prescription.

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The Consumer Affairs Ministry decided to issue the guidelines after the Ministry of Ayush reached out to it noting serious violations. The Ayush Ministry has reportedly pointed out that e-portals are selling weed, hash, and other narcotics to consumers under ‘Ayush drugs’ without any prescription.

India's e-pharmacy market has been growing at an annualised rate of 40-45 percent due to surging internet, mobile phone penetration and government-led initiatives, a KPMG-FICCI report published in April 2022 stated.

The report added that the e-pharmacy space is attracting huge investments from national and international market leaders and pointed out that the market was valued at $344.8 million in 2021.

It further stated that medicine spending in India is expected to grow 9-12 percent over the next five years