Economy · 15 Aug 2026

NPPA DPCO Paragraph 19 cisplatin carboplatin

Consider the following statements:

  1. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority functions under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
  2. Paragraph 19 of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 allows the NPPA to revise ceiling prices of scheduled drugs in the public interest.
  3. The June 2026 price ceiling hike for both cisplatin and carboplatin was less than 50 percent.
  4. India records more than 1.5 million new cancer cases annually.
AOnly one
BOnly two
COnly three
DAll four
This question is based on: When a Price Cap Nearly Cost Cancer Patients Their Only Chemotherapy Drug
Take this in full test mode → Instructions for 15 Aug 2026
About this question

Why in news

The government's decision to raise NPPA price ceilings for cisplatin and carboplatin by 50 percent, revealed via a Lok Sabha reply and NPPA notification, exposed how price controls unintentionally choked domestic manufacturing of these drugs amid a global platinum-input cost shock.

Why for UPSC

This tests precise recall of both the institutional/regulatory architecture (NPPA's ministry, DPCO Paragraph 19) and specific quantitative facts (the exact 50 percent figure) - the kind of numeric precision UPSC often uses to separate genuine preparation from approximate recall.

Prelims summary

NPPA, under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, used Paragraph 19 of the DPCO, 2013 to raise cisplatin and carboplatin ceiling prices by exactly 50 percent in June 2026, after a global platinum shock made manufacturing at the old ceiling commercially unviable.

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