The medical store business is an ever-growing business in India. Its objective is to offer the consumer medicines both to treat their illnesses and to prevent them.
For many, opening a medical store is a good investment and a business with enormous potential despite having large medical store chains as competitors.
Opening an independent medical store is a challenging process. You need to research the market, make financial arrangements, medical store loans, obtain permits, hire staff, and much more. Thus, we will let you know about some basics of opening a medical store with this article.
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How to Open A Clinic in India?
When opening a freestanding medical store, you have two options: build one from scratch or buy an existing one. There are different opinions about which option is better. Each option has unique challenges and benefits that you should carefully weigh before making a decision.
Apply for Working Capital Loan
Buy an existing medical shop
With this option, you will have an already established medical store with a fixed clientele. You could also retain some of the staff who worked at the previous pharmacy, saving you time searching for employees. However, it is probably more expensive to buy an existing medical store.
You will need to apply for a medical shop loan, seek more investors, and wait longer before making a profit on your business.
Open a medical shop by opting for a medical store loan
This option is generally cheaper than buying an existing business. With fewer financial deals to worry about, you can open a store and start making a profit faster.
However, you can also apply for a medical store loan from various institutions with an easy loan disbursement facility. It would help if you advertise your medical clinic business extensively, preferably before the opening, and invest medical shop loan money towards marketing.
This will ensure you have awareness among many potential customers to keep your business running profitably. It may take a while before enough people get to know your business to make a consistent profit margin.
How profitable can opening a medical store business be?
One of the strengths of the clinic as a business is that the demand for medicines is stable: you all need them at some point, and it is a staple. In other words, it is a kind of business that is maintained in any economic situation.
You can relate this with the current scenario of our nation. In this pandemic age, only the medical stores are the most stable ones in the market. Almost everyone needs medicines in one or another way. After all, every house has at least one paracetamol medicine.
Furthermore, not all public hospitals have at their disposal a sufficient number of drugs. In the medical shop, you can sell medicines in bulk with profit in hand. Therefore, with the right approach, the sale of medicines can be a truly profitable business.
On the other hand, it is worth understanding that opening a store will require an impressive amount of money and time. After all, you will first need to study the market to know whether the business will be profitable in your city.
You should also select the medicines that will have maximum demand. And, of course, you will need significant cash investments. Therefore, nothing can be better than applying for a medical loan.
Requirements to open a medical store
The regulations establish a series of requirements regarding the location of the medical store. Because they are so regulated and considered a kind of public service, a medical clinic cannot be opened anywhere but must be distributed throughout the cities and towns so that all areas are well supplied.
Following are the territorial requirements to open a medical store:
- In each pharmaceutical area, only one medical drug store can be created per module of 2,800 inhabitants.
- Each pharmacy must respect a minimum distance from existing pharmacies, which is, as a general rule, 250 meters.
When you have already been granted the installation authorization, you must meet a series of additional requirements. These are the documents and elements that we must have the following documents in order:
Pharmacy license
To get a pharmacy license, one must be a certified pharmacist or a degree holder in B. Pharm or M. Pharm.
Certificate of registration of the holder
One must get the certificate of registration from the mentioned authority before opening any medical drug store. It should be valid and viable in every aspect.
Registration of medical store business
The registration of medical stores in India is governed by the Indian Pharmacy Act of 1948. According to the Act, medical stores and pharmacies must register with the state government and provide all pertinent information. Following submission, a registration tribunal will decide on the raised concern.
Tax registration
For beginning any business organization, including a drug store, one must register for Goods and Service Tax (GST) if the total turnover of a financial year exceeds the threshold limit. The general limit set by the GST council is INR 20 lakhs for all the states in India except the northeastern states, where the limit is INR 10 lakhs.
Registration for drug license
Every medical store, big or small, will need a drug license from the Central Drugs Standards Control Organization and the State Drugs Standards Control Organization before opening their doors. These agencies are in charge of providing two main drug licenses:
- Retail Drug License: A retail drug license is required to operate a general chemist store. It is necessary to deposit a fee. Only individuals who have earned a degree or diploma in pharmacy from a recognized institute or university are eligible to register for this type of drug license.
Wholesale Drug License: A wholesale drug license is provided to medical stores that deal in the wholesale distribution of pharmaceuticals and medicines. Unlike the Retail Drug License, there aren’t as many requirements to obtain this license.
Financial support
You can easily apply for an MSME Loan before beginning a medical store business through an MSME registration from any financial institution in India.
So, a medical store can be a fruitful business, although a number of considerations must be taken into account since it is not a business to use, a business to serve others. We help out budding businesses to achieve their goal with monetary aid in terms of loans.
If you are looking to open a new medical store, learn about our medical store loan, and get in touch with us today!
Frequently Asked Questions
Before applying for registration of business, the individual should fulfill the following requirements:
1) Pharmacy Licence
2) Land Registration
3) Registration of Medical Store Business
4) Company Registration
5) Shop and Establishment Registration/ Gumasta Registration
6) Tax Registration
7) Registering for Drug License
Retail medical shop profit margins range from 5% to 30%. There are different margins for each type of product, such as profit margins for trapped products, generic medicines, OTC (over-the-counter) medicines, branded prescription products. After this whatever discount you provide which can be from 5% to 20%.
As the minimum qualification required to open a medical store is to do a diploma in pharmacy. One can do pharmacy after 12th in science after that he/she can apply for the licence required to open the medical shop.
No. To open a medical drug store and be a qualified pharmacist, one must need to secure the degree of B. Pharma or M. Pharma.
The medical durg business is a good business to start in a country like India since the business profit margin is quite high.
Profit Margin of Sanjivani franchise starts from 25% in regular medicines and goes up 80% in Generic drugs and surgical.
The franchise partner needs to make an initial investment of 12- 15 Lakh which includes Interior Design, Equipment Cost, Drug License, Initial Inventory and Franchise Fee Of 3.5 Lakhs.
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