NEW DELHI, Mar 19:
Medicine prices are set to become cheaper with drug pricing regulator NPPA directing drug makers to pass on benefits of lower excise duty to consumers.
The government has exempted drugs and pharmaceuticals from the the levy of Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess, resulting into reduction of excise duty from 6.18 per cent to 6 per cent, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said in notification.
In exercise of the powers conferred on it by Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, the NPPA “directs all the manufacturers to ensure to revise their Maximum Retail price (MRP), inclusive of excise duty and all taxes, of all formulation packs downward, pursuant to aforesaid notifications dated March 1, 2015,” it added. (PTI)