JAN AUSHADHI GETS A SHOT IN THE ARM

More than a decade after it was launched, the affordable-drug scheme is finally seeing sales pick up

- Jessica Jani

A stone's throw away from a Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra in suburban Mumbai stands another pharmacy, called 'Mumbai Jan Aushadhi'. Its walls are lined with branded generics—copies of once-patented drugs that are now sold and marketed by pharma companies.

Branded generics are not typically found in Jan Aushadhi kendras—pharmacies registered under a central government scheme to promote affordable medicines. Mumbai Jan Aushadhi is able to sell them because, despite its misleading name, it is not part of the scheme. The canny owner has been riding on the government scheme's name to draw customers, without giving too much mindspace to little irritants such as copyright law.

"We wanted to start a Jan Aushadhi kendra because they are doing so well," the proprietor told Mint, requesting anonymity. "But we couldn't because there is already one registered 800 metres away." Under the scheme's guidelines, no two Jan Aushadhi centres can exist within a 1 km radius.

In September, Jan Aushadhi sales reached a monthly record high of ₹200 crore, surging 42% over the same month last year, according to the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, under whose purview the scheme falls. Overall sales for 2024 reached ₹1,000 crore in October, outpacing the previous calendar year, when they had crossed the ₹1,000 crore mark only in December. Jan Aushadhi kendras across the country see about 1 million footfalls daily, according to a government release dated 21 October.

The goal of the scheme, which was started by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2008 and rebranded by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 2015, was to sell crucial drugs and medical supplies at affordable prices. But quality and supply issues, as well as low profitability, have hindered its growth all these years.