evidence: The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which regulates the prices of medicines, has said that prices could increase by up to 12%. This is the highest one-time increase in the prices of medicines under the price control regime since the NPPA came into being in 1997. Last year, the hike was just 0.5 per cent, while it was two per cent in 2020. The prices of 900 drugs (formulations) which have 384 medical molecules that are included in the National List of Essential Drugs will increase. At present, these are included in the price control list. There will be an increase of 10% in the prices of medicines in the non-scheduled drugs category which are outside the price control regime. [...] Pharmaceutical companies are permitted to increase the prices of nonscheduled drugs, which do not come under price control, by 10 per cent annually. However, the NPPA has to give the go-ahead to increase the prices of medicines which come under price control. Of the total number of medicines sold, 16 per cent come under price control mechanisms.