Pre-Budget 2017 – Pradeep Dadha- CEO and Founder, Netmeds

New Delhi, January 31, 2017: “ We look forward to a budget that encourages business growth, and re-nergizes consumer spending, perhaps through slight rate reductions in both corporate and personal taxes. And although tis a foregone conclusion that GST annoucenments will be delayed, it shouldn’t bee too long before that, too, makes it easier to do business throughout the country.“

Netmeds Marketplace Pvt. Ltd. is India’s leading online pharmacythat offers customers complete ease of shopping for medicines and other healthcare products through its 24×7 online portal, mobile application and customer care call centre. Netmeds’ strong focus on technology and its backward integration model allow for the option of same-day delivery and incredible discounts onits 100% authentic products. With a pan-India potential and an exclusive, wide range of prescription drugs and supplements, Netmeds is poised to take over the country’s market and become- as its incredibly successful ad campaign asserts- ‘India ki Pharmacy’.

Netmeds’ stands out in the marketthanks to its thrust ondisruption of the general trend in the pharmacy market. Drug distribution and end-retail in India is largely unorganised and cartelised, with mom-and-pop model stores making up for 95% of the market share. Even organised retail pharmacy chains are not the best solution as they provide a wider product choice but are held back by low operating margins,caused by high rentals and other overhead costs. This creates an untapped potential for online shopping of prescription medicines and healthcare products.Netmeds has been an early mover and market leader in this arena, being the only company with a pan-India distribution capacity.It established its presence firmly in the $15 billion retail pharma market in June 2015. In July, this year, the mobile application of Netmeds.com was downloaded 660,000times, reflecting Indian customers’ enthusiastic response to the convenience and superlative service delivery it offers.

Value-added services are another USP of Netmeds. These services include automated refill reminders, loyalty programs, detailed information on more cost-effective substitutes,expense analytics, order history, data records, digital copy of prescriptions and much more. Additionally, Netmed’s diligent tracking of medical purchases is an important step in the direction of eliminating drug abuse and the problems of self-medication. The company’s powerful data analytics allow it to predict demand with great accuracy, thus removing wastage from the system and making sure stocks are up to date to fight challenges such as changing seasons and epidemics. In a market where at least 10% of all pharmaceutical drugs sold are counterfeit, Netmeds guarantees absolutely unadulterated products, with an inventory of 22,500 SKUs of prescription drugs and 3,000 SKUs of OTC products.

The platform is set apart by its robust distribution network and extensive back-end infrastructure. Netmeds.com also offers unique cross selling opportunities and attracts thousands of orders every day,allowing low-cost product launches and continuous improvement through direct consumer connect. The company is committed to resist the rising incidence of lifestyle-related ailments and leverage the increased income levels and the need for convenience of its customers. Its growth is also driven by the ever-increasing number of internet users in India, the rise of m-commerce and the improving payments landscape in the country.

All endeavours of Netmeds are promoted by the Dadha family, who have been in the pharmaceutical business for over a hundred years. , The Chennai-based firm has already won accolades, including the prestigious ‘Heath-Tech Start-up of the Year’ award at the NDTV Unicorn Start-up Awards 2016.

The future plans of the company include partnership with other pharma/nutritional companies to use data analytics and enable the targeting of specific patient groups. Netmeds.com currently has 8 fulfilment centres operational across Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Raipur and Kochi and will operationalise 6 more to ensure efficient and quicker deliveries pan-India.

Pradeep Dadha has enjoyed many business successes and accolades, but the most recent may be the topper. His Netmeds.com, known as India Ki Pharmacy, brought home the highly coveted NDTV Unicorn Award for Health-Tech Start-up of the Year. Prior to launching Netmeds, he paved a tracked record of innovation and achievement by founding and leading companies that operated worldwide and within a range of industries that include hospitality, digital publishing, e-commerce, and corporate wellness. Growing up in Chennai, he graduated from Loyola College and worked at his family’s pharmaceutical business, DadhaPharma, Pvt. Ltd, starting at the bottom and working his way up through virtually every level of the business. A descendant of a long line of entrepreneurs, whose reputation in Tamil Nadu has been earned over a span of more than 100 years, Pradeep worked as a sales representative at the company before assuming other roles in its fulfilment and human resources departments. He eventually created a retail distribution chain of more than 1,500 outlets. Then, to further hone his business acumen, Pradeep left the comfort zone of the family business and took positions with the contact centre divisions of Reliance Infocom and Sun Communique. As a member of the core management teams, he was involved with Budget Preparations, Cost and ROI Analysis, Client Contract Negotiations, Human Resources Allocation and generally became highly competent at contact centre and BPO centre management. This was to prepare him well for his ensuing role as an early adapter of the global BPO/

His latest venture, NetMeds.com, is India’s first VPO trend, and he launched his first such company in 2002. In 2003 he developed the back-office model and ran the operations for an international pharmaceutical company, one of the first global operations of its kind. e-marketplace offering pharmaceutical and OTC healthcare products across the pan-Indian spectrum. The site offers a wide selection of both prescription drugs and non-prescription products (OTC) drugs, supplying over 35,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) from its Fulfilment Centres throughout the country. In its first year of business the company has served customers in every state and more than 450 cities.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)