Last month, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry led by Ramvilas Paswan proposed a reduction of taxes on life-saving medicines on the assurance of drug makers that this benefit would be passed on to the consumers entirely.
The prices of about 20 life-saving medicines used in the treatment of diseases like cancer, diabetes and AIDS may go down in the coming months if the finance ministry considers the proposals for duty exemption on such drugs.
Multinational drug firms like Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer are likely to be the beneficiaries if the proposals find space in the forthcoming Union Budget.
According to sources, most of the imported medicines currently attract 10 per cent basic Customs duty and 16 per cent countervailing duty.
The recommended medicines are used in the treatment of diseases like diabetes, cancer, AIDS and asthma. A couple of preventive therapies like Hepatitis-B and pneumococcal vaccines also figure in the list.
Need to examine this some more. As usual this is a placeholder article.
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