The pharmacy business is an evergreen business in India that is not affected by economic cycles. So, if one has minimal capital investment and space, the pharmacy store is ideal for many businessmen across India. You can either go for a stand-alone medical store or a pharmacy franchise like Apollo pharmacy franchise, Netmeds franchise, etc which is expensive compared to your own medical store.
Requirements to get the license for your stand-alone pharmacy shop or a medical store (and make a profitable medical store business investment!):
Firstly, are you a B Pharm / M Pharm?
If not, you might have to find a pharmacist willing to lend you his/her name against goodwill payment for registration purposes.
This is because you’ll need qualifications proof of a minimum of one Pharmacist (either owner or an Employee) to obtain a Pharmacy License for your medical store.
You’ll need a rental agreement or/and Ownership proof of premises with a minimum area of 10 square meters to start a medical shop or pharmacy or wholesale outlet.
In case, the pharmacy store combines retail and wholesale, a minimum of 15 square meters is required.
Again, your basic need will be a shop (rental or own) if you are targeting a local area. Just make sure you do your maths for a shop (buy/rent) + inventory to be bought initially. The rent for a place can be as small as Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 lac depending upon the city, location and size of your medical store.
Importantly, at the time of the sale of the drugs, the presence of a competent person on the counter throughout the working hours is a must! Typically, you might have to set aside Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000/month to maintain a pharmacist in your medical store.
In any case, this competent person can either be:
A registered pharmacist approved by the pharmacy department or
A graduate with 1 yr experience in dealing in drugs or
A person who has passed S.S.L.C with 4 years of experience in dealing in drugs, specially approved by the department of drug control for the purpose.
Most importantly, the store must have a refrigerator on the premises.
This is because, according to the labeling specifications of certain drugs like vaccines, Sera, Insulin Injections, etc., are required to be stored in the refrigerator.
Do not stick to the old and inefficient method of operating a pharmacy. Do business the smarter way! Managing business accounting like billing, inventory, bookkeeping single-handedly or with a bunch of people is challenging and can result in a lot of manual work without the use of technology.
Accounting App to help you run your pharmacy shop, manage inventory and ease up accounting stuff. Most of the businessmen out there use it to ease up their life.
You may want to read this:
The documents required for starting a pharmacy store varies from state to state. However, the following is a suggestive list of documents required for obtaining a drug license in India according to the new rules for the medical store.
- Pharmacy License application form in the prescribed format.
- Covering Letter with the intent of the application signed with the name and designation of the applicant.
- Challan of fee deposited for obtaining drug licenses.
- Declaration form in the format prescribed.
- Key plan(Blueprint) for the premises.
- Site plan (Blueprint) for the premises.
- The basis of possession of the premises.
- Identity proof and photos of owner/partners of a medical store.
- Proof of ownership of the premises, if rented
- Proof of constitution of the company(Incorporation Certificate / MOA / AOA / Partnership Deed)
- Affidavit of non-conviction of proprietor/partners/directors under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
- Affidavit of a registered pharmacist or competent person working full time
- Appointment letter of registered pharmacist/competent person, if the employed person.
These documents decide your eligibility for a medical store license. After completing all requirements, one has to visit the drug inspector office and has to file the application for granting medical store and drug store. This is the procedure for obtaining a drug license for the medical store.
I Advice:
Firstly, avoid renting/owning the shop where there are already Multiple medical stores to avoid unnecessary competition.
Informally, you can always network with a Doctor / Hospital so that you can “tie-up” with them, this is the easiest way to access the customer base (again not ethical but most follow this route).
