Karnataka   

AIOCD launches limited company

PANAJI: To face the competition from big retailers, including malls, in the future, the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), representing over 5.5 lakh chemists and druggists, have floated a limited company and will have subsidiaries in the States to enter organised retailing.

The idea is to protect its members by entering into organised wholesaling and retailing by providing under corporate umbrella facilities such as information technology training, warehousing, marketing and information back-up.

Addressing presspersons at Calangute in south Goa on Friday ahead of its crucial three-day conference to deliberate various issues affecting the trade, J.S. Shinde, General Secretary of AIOCD, said, “The move is to protect our traders from corporate sharks and preserve our identity.”

The AIOCD was geared up to “shed its image of confrontation and instead transform itself into a professional corporate house”, said A.N. Mohan, president of AIOCD.

The name of the company, which is being floated with an investment of Rs. 20crore, is “All India Origin Chemists and Druggists Ltd. Twenty more companies at the State-level will be floated, beginning with one each in Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka. AIOCD has appointed Ernest &Young and Accenture to draft logistics and business plan for the company and its subsidiaries.

On the issue of banned drugs, the AIOCD office-bearers admitted that the circulars pertaining to banned drugs should reach pharmacies soon. But there were cases where there was a communication gap which could lead to delay in withdrawing banned drugs from the shelf. They promised that AIOCD would take up the issue with the authorities concerned.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

15 writers get Bhasha-Bharati Samman in Karnataka
ENGAGEMENTS
Polling percentage
After voter ID, it’s vote ID
A chance to make a quick buck
AIOCD launches limited company
Floods cause huge losses in Goa
Concern over poor share of farm credit in Goa’s annual credit plan
Dalit groups support Yediyurappa
People urged to emulate ideals of Shivaram Karanth
Rally taken out to create awareness
‘Priority for small units’
Workshop

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu