E-pharmacies are recent entrants in the Indian e-commerce industry landscape, with it receiving increased attention from government and investors in the last three to five years. Today, the E-pharmacy market potential is worth over a 3,500 Crore with more than 35 startups assisting the growth of this segment in various regions of India. Inspite of being a novel segment in the Indian E - commerce industry, it is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of over 20%, crossing the 25,000 Cr mark by 2022.   

            E-pharmacy companies provide both over-the-counter (OTC) dugs and prescription drugs. For ordering prescription drugs, one has to upload its prescription online. Increasing internet penetration has supported growth of E-pharmacy market in the recent past and is expected to witness high growth in the near future.

            In 2015, Indian government launched Digital India program with the motto 'Power to Empower'. Under this program, government aims to digitalize India by providing high-speed internet networks in rural areas. Such initiatives by Indian government is expected to positively affect the E-pharmacy market over the forecast period.

            Recent laws regarding the regulation of online pharmacy has led to impressive funding and investments in start-ups and ventures entering the Indian E - pharmacy segment. This presents an excellent opportunity for online pharmacies to exploit the lucrative segment for higher profitability. India currently has over 9,00,000 independent pharmacy retail stores that are able to meet only 60% of the total domestic therapeutic demand.

           Offers and discounts on E-pharmacy channel is a major factor attracting consumers towards it. For instance, as on April 2018, 1mg, an E-pharmacy company in India, is providing a discount of 12% on over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Free home delivery, and free returns are other two important and attractive features of E-pharmacy channel. Thus, evolution of E-pharmacy channel has resulted in availability of products at every doorstep and also, at significantly lower price. Moreover, increasing internet penetration across the globe has expanded the customer base for these E-Pharmacy companies. For instance, according to data published by World Bank, only 12.58% of total population were using internet in 2012 in India, which has increased to 34.5% in 2018. The growth rate of internet coverage is similar in developing economies such as China, Brazil, and Mexico.

           Varun Gupta, head of medical affairs at 1mg said the company gets up to 60 million hits a month on its website and its mobile app has been downloaded 3.5 million times since 2012.Pharmaceutical industry is a slack free industry. It is not like share market goes up and down. It grows and grows over the time because every day new medicines are coming up. Online Pharmacy is the fasted growing business opportunity and most importantly there are only 35 players now and how come they will cover 40% untapped potential of Indian population. We require actually more than 35000 players to take care our huge population. Don not look only at money but also on ethical business approach.

Mohammad shahbaz alam