How To Open A Medical Store In India
Pharmacy business is a booming business in India, a business model that stays intact and is solid against economic cycles. Interestingly, as per stats based on the pharma industry’s revenue, it generated a total of around 70 percent of the overall market.
Medicines are the need of the hour. Since the dawn of Covid-19, every other person searches for a medical store near me. The whole world relies on medications to fight diseases every day.
Considering the increasing potential in this business, owning a medical store is a dream for many. Before you think about things like how to open a medical store( Chemist Shop). The medical store business is playing a vital role in the Indian economy. It is very advantageous in nature as the medical store business profit margins is some what higher, and also, it doesn’t easily get by the rise and falls in business cycles.
The medical store business may not grow as expected if proper research is not done in advance. The medical industry is rising rapidly over the years and will continue to rise so in the future because of the increasing demand of more medical stores in India.
In this article, we will discuss the complete detail about, how you can open a Medical Store in India.
Key Points
- Types Of Medical Store
- Important steps to open a medical store- infrastructure, investment, storage facility, technical staff.
- New Rules for Medical Store in India.
- Documentation process and more important things for opening a medical store
Types of Medical Store
Before you think about things like how to open a medical store, you must be aware of the type of medical store, you want to own. Below are the the some types of pharmacy or medical store options are given :
- Hospital Medical store or Pharmacy
This type of medical store is present inside a hospital and is developed to provide medical facilities to the hospital patients. Further, this type of stores serves only in- hospital medical needs.
2. Standalone Pharmacy
It is one of the most commonly used medical stores or pharmacy. These type of stores operate mainly in residential areas and localities. These are the pharma stores that we generally visit.
3. Chain Pharmacy / Franchise outlets
The pharmacies or medical stores that are present in Malls or Shopping Complexes are known as chain pharmacy.
4. Township Medical Stores
These types of medical stores are set up in a township. Its function is to cater to the people that are present inside the township.
5. Medical Stores in Government Premises
Once you have decided about the type of medical store that you want to open, the next thing is to meet certain necessary government requirements by the business.
Important steps to open a Medical Store
Infrastructure – To open a medical store in India, the minimum area required is 10 sq. meters, and moreover, an area of 15 sq. meter is needed for a common retail and wholesale pharmacy2.
Storage facility – A medical store needs to have both an air conditioner and a refrigerator. the same is required to fulfill the labeling specification, as there are some medicines or drugs like insulin injections, vaccines etc… that are required to be stored in a freezer or refrigerator.
Technical staff – To open a medical store you need the technical staff which required for the types of medical store as follows :
- Wholesale Pharmacy – An individual can do wholesale sale of the medicines or drug only in the physical presence of the following :
A. The registered pharmacist or in front of a competent person who needs to be graduate with at least 1 year of experience in trading with drugs, B. A person who has passed S.S.L.C with 4 year experience in dealing with medicine and drugs, which are approved by the department of drugs control for the purpose. 2. Retail Pharmacy – You can engage yourself in the retail sale of the drug only in the presence of a registered pharmacist, who is approved by the department of drugs control. Further, it shall be considerate to note that the registered pharmacist need to be present throughout the working hours. 3. Investment – The investment amount will depend where you want to open your medical store ,
- If you want to start a retail business, the minimum investment for the medical store in small towns and semi-urban areas is approx Rs. 3-5 lakhs.
- If you are interested to start a wholesale business, the minimum investment required is about Rs. 7-8 lakhs approx.
- For big cities or metropolitan cities the investment amount will be higher.
New Rules For Medical Store In India
If you are thinking to open a medical store in India then you need to abide by the new rules for medical store –
- Pharmacy license application form in the designated format.
- Drug licenses deposited fee or challan invoices.
- Declaration form in the prescribed format.
- key plan or blueprint for the premises.
- Site plan blueprint for the premises.
- the basis of possession of the premises.
- A covering letter with the intent of the of the application along with the name, signature and designation of the applicant.
- All govt. based or official identity proof, passport-size photographs of owner/partners of the aforementioned medical store.
- Constitution proof of the company ( MOA/ AOA/Partnership deed ).
- Ownership proof of premises ( if shop is rented).
- Appointment letters of registered and employed pharmacists or competent personel.
- Affidavit of the full-time working competent person or the registered pharmacist.
- Non-conviction of partners/ proprietor/directors under the Drug and Cosmetics Act, 1940 affidavit.
Documentation Process To Open A Medical Store
The steps that an applicant requires to follow to open a Medical store in India are as follows :
- Retail Drug License – A license is required to run the general chemist shop, which requires you to deposit a minimal fee to begin operations. however, it should be noted that the process of registration can only be carried out by an individual who has the degree or diploma in pharmacy from a listed university or institute.
- Wholesale Drug License – If you want to open a wholesale medical store, you need to issue a license for the same. Unlike Retail Drug License, the applicant does not have to follow a specified set of rules and regulations.
3. Company Registration – To open a Medical Store in India, the different forms of business structure to choose from as follows : A. Proprietorship Registration, B. Partnership Registration, C. One Person Company Registration, D. Private Limited Company, E. Limited Liability Company, F. Shop and Establishment Registration/ Gumasta registration.
- GST Registration – As India’s government has it, the application of GST ( Goods And Services Tax) Tax is a must for every business entity including medical store. So if you are interested to open a medical store, you need to acquire the GST Tax registration. Now you need to know the different threshold limits that are available in a GST registration. You must obtain GST registration from the government if the aggregate business annual turnover in a financial year crosses the threshold limit of 40 lakhs.
Further, the limit is reduced to Rs 20 lakhs by the GST Council for all the North- Eastern Hilly states.
Conclusion
The pharmaceuticals industry is growing very rapidly in India for the past decade. Indian medicines are increasingly widespread all across the world due to cost efficiency, increased availability and high demand. To start your own medical store is a good business choice as, in India its business profit margin is quite high. To open a medical store is a good profitable business.
So if you are one of those people, who are thinking to open their own Medical Store, now you have all the related details about the same.
In this article we provide you the complete details to open a Medical Store but if you have any other question regarding this topic you can ask in the comment section. And if find this article useful share it with your friends and family.
