Bombay HC; Seven bulk drugs removed not under DPCO
Mumbai--A division bench of the Bombay High Court has held that seven bulk drugs - ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, salbutamol, theophylline, cloxacillin, doxycycline and glipizide do not fall under the purview of price control and that the current Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) is not applicable to these drugs.
At present about 74 drugs come under the DPCO.
Industry experts say that the ruling has come as a boon for Ranbaxy Labs, Cipla, Unichem Labs, US Vitamins and Okasa Ltd (the five companies contesting the case), and may also have effects across the sector, with the string of similar cases being challenged across the country.
It is as yet not clear if the Union government and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) would appeal against the Bombay High Courts decision.
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Fiscal deficit already a cause for concern
New Delhi--The centres fiscal deficit in the first four months of 2001-02 has already exceeded 50 per cent of the full years target of 4.7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
The government has budgeted the fiscal deficit for the current financial year at Rs 1,16,314 crore.
However by the month of July the deficit touched 50.4 per cent or Rs 58,628 crore mainly because of the front loading of the expenditure and poor revenue collections.
As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts today, the fiscal deficit as on July 31, 2001 stands at 2.37 per cent of GDP.
At the same time last year, the deficit was just 32 per cent or Rs 35,642 crore of the targeted fiscal deficit of 5.2 per cent of GDP.
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