"Copyright is not a divine right and that education is an important social need. This is a huge moment": Justice Rajiv Sahai

"Copyright is not a divine right and that education is an important social need. This is a huge moment": Justice Rajiv Sahai

Start-up E-pharmacy in India

Start-up E-pharmacy in India

Need to amend Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 to promote e-pharmacy in India

NEW DELHI, 1 August, 2016: INBA under the leadership of Mr. Tabrez Ahmad, Chair, Startup Committee supported FICCI report on E Pharmacy along with Frost & Sullivan. With the advent of e-pharmacy, there is a need to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 as it does not differentiate between offline and online pharmacies. E-Pharmacy is one of the technology advancements that is about to create a huge demand in the upcoming days. In today’s world, when most of the products and services are conveniently being delivered to the consumers’ doorstep, there is a huge demand for access models that help patients and consumers avail the convenience of medicine delivery without having to leave their homes. It is stated by Kaviraj Singh, Secretary General of Indian National Bar Association.

The Government is seized of the issue and is working towards amending the existing law to develop a framework where the consumers are benefited. This was stated by Mr. K. B. Aggarwal, Additional Secretary (Food and Drugs), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,while launching a report at a session on ‘E-pharmacy in India – Last Mile Access of Medicines’, organized by FICCI.

Mr. Aggarwal said that e-pharmacy would allow easy availability of drugs at all hours. However, there were concerns with respect to legitimacy of e-pharmacies, patients’ safety and privacy, misuse of e-pharmacy and adverse effect on retailers business. He said that there was a need to create e-pharmacy guidelines which allow proper tracking and

monitoring of sales of drugs, authenticity of online pharmacists and prescriptions, details of patients, thereby helping in reducing drug abuse and counterfeiting. He added that linking a person’s Aadhar number with e-pharmacy would ensure correctness of person seeking medicines.

Mr. Aggarwal said that for ensuring privacy and confidentiality of information, deliberations were taking place and soon the suggestions will be put up for further discussions among the stakeholders. He added that the DCGI was working towards developing its online platform and the system should be stable by the end of December 2016.

In his presentation Mr. Jayant Singh, Director, Frost & Sullivan, said that e-pharmacy was one of the technology advancements that is about to create a huge demand in the upcoming days. There was a huge demand for access models that help patients and consumers avail the convenience of medicine delivery without having to leave their homes. With the use of technology and access to inventory of multiple stores at a time, e-pharmacies can aggregate supplies, making otherwise-hard-to-find medicines available to consumers across the country.

Dr. Manisha Shridhar, Regional Adviser, World Health Organization, said that for sale of online drugs, in the EU legitimate online pharmacies will have to carry a logo and India could learn from their processes and create its own logo for e-pharmacy. She added that there was a need to work on Direct to Consumer (DTC) as with emergence of e-pharmacy many issues will emerge that would need to be deliberated upon. In his presentation on the consumer survey, Mr. Afaq Hussain, Director, BRIEF Market Research, said that 90 percent of the respondents were willing to buy medicines online as e-pharmacy brings with the convenience of ordering from mobile applications; all required medicines are available at one store/website; home delivery of medicines; better quality of medicines; better pricing and e-bill for tacking and reimbursement.

INBA seeking suggestions from the industry and legal fraternity for the changes to be brought by Government of India in its public policy and law to help the startup e-pharmacy. All the suggestions received will compile and submitted to government for further appropriate action.

INBA round table discussion on "How to promote Arbitration & Mediation" ...

| Trustman & Co.

| Trustman & Co.: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, has given its nod to the “Stand Up India Scheme” to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and Women entrepreneurs. The Scheme is intended to facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch, on an average one for each category of entrepreneur. The …

overseas subsidiaries of Indian companies

In reference to the circular DBOD.IBD.BC.No.96/23.37.001/2006-07 dated May 10, 2007 permitting banks in India to extend funded and/or non-funded credit facilities to step-down subsidiaries of the overseas subsidiaries of Indian companies that may not be wholly owned, subject to certain conditions. RBI has revived the above instructions and modified the same which are mentioned below.

Modified norms

·        Banks may extend funded and/or non-funded credit facilities to the step-down subsidiaries of Indian companies including to those beyond the first level, to finance the projects undertaken abroad.

·        The immediate overseas subsidiary of the Indian company must be directly controlled by the Indian parent company through any of the modes of control recognised under the Indian Accounting Standards. As per the Indian Accounting Standards, control has been defined as (a) the ownership, directly or indirectly, through subsidiary(ies), of more than one-half of the voting power of an enterprise; or (b) control of the composition of the board of directors in the case of a company or of the composition of the corresponding governing body in case of any other enterprise so as to obtain economic benefits from its activities. In addition, the Indian parent company must directly hold a minimum 51% of its shareholding.

·        All the step-down subsidiaries, including the intermediate ones, must be wholly owned subsidiary of the immediate parent company or its entire shares shall be jointly held by the immediate parent company and the Indian parent company and / or its wholly owned subsidiary. The immediate parent should, wholly or jointly with Indian parent company and / or its wholly owned subsidiary, have control over the step-down subsidiary.

·        Banks shall make additional provision of 2% (in addition to country risk provision that is applicable to all overseas exposures) against standard assets representing all exposures to the step-down subsidiaries, to cover the additional risk arising from complexity in the structure, location of different intermediary entities in different jurisdictions exposing the Indian company, and hence the bank, to greater political and regulatory risk.

Germany India Bilateral Agreement

Germany India Bilateral Agreement

Salient Features of Draft Regulatory Reform Bill, 2013

Salient Features of Draft Regulatory Reform Bill, 2013



Salient Features of Draft Regulatory Reform Bill, 2013
(i) General:
a. The objective of the proposed regulatory Bill is orderly development of infrastructure
services, enable competition and protect consumer interest in securing access to affordable and quality infrastructure.
b. The Draft Bill is guided by the three general principles of separation of power, democratic accountability, and the federal principle. Accordingly, the rule-making and enforcement functions have been separated from judicial functions, which have been vested in Appellate Tribunals. To secure democratic accountability, the regulator has been made responsible to the legislature and to the people at large. The federal principle has also been followed through distribution of subjects of economic regulation between union and state competencies.
c. The Draft Bill includes an overarching institutional framework for regulatory commissions and appellate tribunals, their role and functions, legislative, financial and judicial accountability and their interface with the market and the people.
(ii) Constitution:
Independence and autonomy are key considerations for constitution of regulatory commissions and appellate tribunals. In the Draft Bill, selection, appointment and removal of chairperson and members is insulated against any perceived interference or manipulation that may influence the outcome. The Draft Bill lays down a fair selection process where it proposes that the Chairperson and members of the regulatory commissions may be appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of the Prime minister who should choose from out of a panel of two or three names empanelled by a High Powered Selection Committee and approved by the Minister concerned.
(iii) Tariff Regulatory Commission:
The Government may also constitute tariff regulatory commissions for determination of tariffs in the provision of goods and services in public utility industries where competition is either restricted or the prices of such goods or services are determined by the government or an entity owned or controlled by the government.
(iv) Tenure and other conditions:
Tenure of members is proposed to be fixed at four years. It is proposed that qualifications and experience of members should be specified by law with a view to ensure a multi-disciplinary composition of the regulatory commissions and appellate tribunals. Further, at least one member may also be drawn from other than public sector background to enrich the functioning
of the regulatory bodies