Thus far, quick-commerce companies had been looking to bring on board everything that was sold on traditional e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. But now they’re going beyond what traditional e-commerce companies sell as well.
Swiggy Instamart has partnered with PharmEasy to deliver medicines in 10 minutes. The two companies are running a pilot in Bengaluru for the service. Users will have to upload a prescription on the app to be able to order medicines. Pharmeasy has reportedly set up stores within Swiggy’s dark stores for the initiative.
This is the first time that a quick-commerce company has attempted to deliver prescription drugs on its platform. Several quick-commerce companies do sell OTC drugs such as pain relief sprays that don’t require a prescription, but Swiggy Instamart has launched its medicines delivery for prescription medicines as well. Swiggy Instamart has been leveraging PharmEasy’s legal licenses and experience to be able to deliver medicines through its platform.
Medicine delivery, though, is a business that operates in a legal grey area. When online pharmacies had first appeared on the scene in 2016, they had been met with opposition from local chemists. The chemists had called for a nationwide bandh to protest online pharmacies. They had contended that the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules Act of 1945 stipulated that a prescription shall “be in writing and signed by the person giving it with his usual signature and be dated by him.” This Act, which regulates the sale of medicines, didn’t seem to allow for a digital copy of signatures, which would make it impossible for online pharmacies to accept an uploaded prescription from a doctor.
But this had been challenged by online pharmacies, which had cited IT Act, passed in 2000, which provides for “Legal Recognition of electronic records”, and the “Legal Recognition of electronic signature.” As per this act, an electronic record could be used as a substitute for a written copy, which would’ve made uploaded prescriptions legal.
After these disagreements, the government had introduced a draft in August 2018 to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 which would allow for the operation of online pharmacies. The draft required for online pharmacies to be registered with regulatory bodies, and introduced several rules which would govern their operations. The draft, however, hasn’t been passed as law, which means that online pharmacies still operate in a legal grey area.
But crucially, quick-commerce companies will likely antagonize another powerful body if they begin delivering medicines as well in 10 minutes. India’s retailers are already up in arms over these companies delivering other products in 10 minutes, with India’s largest retail distributor body approaching the Competition Commission of India claiming that these companies were breaking FDI rules by holding their own inventory. By delivering medicines in 10 minutes, quick-commerce companies might get quite a bit of traction and publicity, but they’ll risk ever-more-strident protests — and possible regulatory scrutiny — over their business models.