India Budget Offers Removal Of Excise Tax On 7,000 “Essential” Drugs

India's government has prepared a budget for the coming year that calls for dropping the 16 percent excise tax on 7,000 drugs considered "essential" medicines. Removal of the tax, which is imposed on 57.5 percent of the maximum retail price of drugs, would mean about a 10 percent reduction in the 27 classes that make up drugs considered essential. Some individual drugs in that category are under price controls already. The nation's drug makers have agreed to pass the benefit of an end of the excise tax on to consumers of the "life-saving" drugs. (Click here for more