The pharmaceutical companies have submitted to the government a list of these drugs saying they would voluntarily limit wholesale margins at 15 percent and retain margins at 35 percent for drug manufactured after today.

Chemicals and Fertilizer Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said here on Monday that prices of several branded and non-branded generic drugs are set to crash by 92 percent with the pharmaceutical industry agreeing to cap trade margins.

While competition and de-regulation have led to cut in prices in various sectors, prices of drugs have either gone up or remained static instead of coming down, he said.

The trade margins of generic and other drugs are not laid down at present and in some cases, the price of generic version is almost as high as the patented and branded drug itself.

The generic drug market is estimated to form five to seven percent of the total market for medicines in India and its value placed at Rs 1,500 crore.