Looking at the recent past where Indian pharmaceutical companies have been taken over by foreign multinationals, Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad said that the FDI norms which are currently present in the sector should be restudied. He expressed his concern over these takeovers.

In a recent letter sent to Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma he said that if the government wants to ensure proper growth of the pharma sector and also wants that Indian citizens get affordable and quality products, then acquisitions in the sector should be checked.

This, he added, can be done if FDI policy can be studied and changes should be done accordingly.

He also reiterated the fact the when Indian drug companies are acquired by MNCs then it also directly affects the availability and affordability of medicines. And the life-saving drugs are the ones that face most of these changes. This is not good for health policy in India. So, he said in a letter. "FDI in this sector needs to be revisited immediately and such investments should be shifted from the automatic route to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board route".