At least once a month, Bhavik Kumar, founder and CEO of Medibox, gets a panicked call. The callers are worried Indian medicine distributors, desperate to either shut down or get acquired. As the head of Medibox, a digital platform for e-marketing, e-procurement and e-distribution of medicines and healthcare products, Kumar is in a unique position. While, on the one hand, his platform helps connect distributors to pharmacies, the network he has created means that Kumar is able to help connect these beleaguered distributors to potential buyers. One way or the other, Kumar does what he can.
Ever since the inception of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 July 2017, the calls have only increased in frequency.