Medicine Shoppe India, the Indian arm of the largest pharmacy chain Medicine Shoppe International, owned by the US-based drug trading major Cardinal Health, is planning to add about 500 medical stores in India within two to three years.

Medicine Shoppe plans to add another 100 retail drug stores in India this year to its current chain of 130 shops, mainly located in Maharashtra and Goa. During the next two years, Medicine Shoppe plans to add another 300 to 400 stores in the Western region, said Viraj Gandhi, managing director, Medicine Shoppe India.

Unlike other major pharmacy chains in India like Fortis, Apollo, Alchemist, Subhiksha and Dial for Health, which sets up own pharmacy chains, Medicine Shoppe follows the model of franchisee stores in India. According to the business model of Medicine Shoppe, any traditional drug store can sign up with Medicine Shoppe for a fee and royalty on the sales and the global retail drug major will help to upgrade to the standards and pharmacy practices followed by Medicine Shoppe stores worldwide.

It is estimated that organised retail pharmacies in India are likely to have a business of about 10 to 20 per cent of the Indian retail drug market within a few years. Currently, the domestic drug retail market is valued about Rs 30,000 -35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) and organised chains account for only about 5-6 per cent.

The pharmacy retail trade in India is currently witnessing entry of big industrial groups like Fortis Healthworld of Ranbaxy-promoted Fortis Healthcare [Get Quote], Mukesh Ambani's Reliance [Get Quote] Retail, Anil Ambani's proposed drug distribution chain, Walmart-Bharati, Godrej [Get Quote] and the like. There are established regional retail chain pharmacies like Apollo Pharmacy of the Apollo Hospitals [Get Quote] Group, Dial for Health promoted by Zydus Cadilla, Planet Health, Med Plus, Life Spring, Health & Glow, LifeKen etc.

"There is lot of hype related to organised pharma chains coming up in the country and we are cautious in our expansion plans. Margins are less in this business since we sell drugs which are in the price controlled category. Currently we also stress on over the counter products to increase our margins. In immediate future, we plan to concentrate only in the West," said Viraj Gandhi.