The Ministry would be setting up drug banks at district levels from January 1 next year, Paswan said, adding that the pharma industry has agreed to set aside 0.5 per cent of its annual turnover to provide free drugs to these banks.

He said the penalty levied from manufacturers, which normally goes to the public exchequer, would also be used to fund the drug banks.

Paswan said the Ministry was making it mandatory to have the local taxes included under the maximum retail prices. The labelling, including dates of expiry, name of the drug and prices, would have to be written in both Hindi and English. Another proposal in the direction of fulfilling CMP promises was to provide health insurance to over 30 crore people below the poverty line.