Licenses Required to Start a Medical Store

“Medicine is a science of uncertainties and art of possibilities”. 

Medicine is one such field that is never affected by any economic cycles. In layman’s words, it is an evergreen field, which will always reap you a good profit. Whatever be the condition of the market, a pharmacy business will always be fruitful. With bare minimum investment and considerable space, the pharmacy business is ideal for many entrepreneurs in India.

Ideally, the medical stores across the country fall into the following four categories:

1. Hospital Pharmacy
2. Standalone Pharmacy
3. Chain Pharmacy
4. Township Pharmacy

Hospital pharmacy and township pharmacy are established under the tutelage of some large establishment. The concept of chain pharmacy has been picked up in the country, but there is still a long way to go. In India, we mostly witness standalone pharmacy that belongs to the unorganised business sector of the country.

In order to obtain the permission and license for your medical store, you need to be qualified under the profession, the minimum qualification should be of a pharmacist. If you are not qualified for yourself, you can hire one pharmacist to handle the business. The following are the licenses that are required to start your medical store in the country:

How to Obtain a Drug License?

Before you even start thinking of starting a pharmacy business, it is important that you acquire a drug license from the government. Issuing such a license is in the hands of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and State Drug Standard Control Organisation.

Generally, the Drug Control Organisation issues two different kinds of drug licenses, they are:

• Retail Drug License
• Wholesale Drug License

As the names suggest, a retail drug license is issued to the entrepreneurs who are going to open a standalone chemist shop in the vicinity of the city. The wholesale drug license is issued to people who want to start a medical store on a wholesale level.

The criteria for issuing these licenses would depend upon different state rules. There are many states where the retails license is provided to people who possess a diploma or degree from a recognised university.

Obtaining a drug license is very critical to start your medical store. You need to abide by all the rules and guidelines laid by the drug control organisation.

The following are the documents required to obtain your drug license: 

1. Application for the license in the prescribed format by the Drug Control Organisation.
2. A cover letter stating the reason to start this business.
3. A blueprint couple with the site plan for the medical store.
4. Qualification and ownership proof of the property.
5. A business license such as partnership deed, incorporation certificate and so on.
6. If you are not a pharmacist yourself, you should show an appointment letter of any qualified pharmacist.
7. Proof of innocence of being a proprietor, partner or director with respect to the Drug and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

There are a few other requirements required to open a medical store. Have a look at the following: 

1. The area of your medical store must be 10 square meters, this is the minimum requirement. If in case, you have obtained both the retail and wholesale license, the area square feet must be 15 square meters or more.
2. The medical store should be well equipped with all the required medical equipment and all the medicines will be completely labeled.
3. The pharmacists that you hire, should be available during the working hours.

You can obtain a company license along with a drug license. The biggest advantage to register your medical store as a company is that it would be called LLP with limited liability.

Once you have your business’ blueprint ready and the required licenses at your disposal, you might consider taking a small business loan to fund your ideas. For an easy application process and quick loan disbursal, contact Gromor Finance!