Why it is in the news
On 29 September 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta asked the Centre why the 16% retailer margin built into the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013 should not apply uniformly to all essential medicines, after flagging a cancer drug supplied to retailers for about ₹2,700–3,000 but sold for ₹27,000. Calling such mark-ups “carnage” whose ultimate loser is the taxpayer, the Bench listed the petitions of advocate Kishan Chand Jain and paediatric surgeon Dr Sanjay Kulshrestha for 12 October 2026.
The exam angle
Issue: India prices molecules but not margins, so large parts of the medicine market can carry mark-ups of several hundred per cent despite the DPCO.