You don't need a prescription to buy an i-pill. What if that changed?

10/17/24 • 41 min

A little more than a week ago, we read a really strange piece of news. Apparently, an expert committee recommended the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to ban the over the counter sale of emergency contraceptive pills like i-pill and Unwanted 72. They suggested women should be only allowed to access it with a doctor’s prescription because of concerns over side effects.

This was weird for many reasons. One, levonorgestrel, which is what these pills contain, is one of the safest emergency contraceptives available in the world. It is approved by WHO and the FDA. In fact, it is so safe, that even breastfeeding women can take it.

Second, these emergency contraceptive pills are already a part of the Indian govt’s family welfare programme. It was approved by the DCGI back in 2001. Ten years later, the ministry of health even made it a part of the ASHA workers drug kit.

Much to the relief of women, the DCGI came up with a clarification a few days later saying no such ban was going to take place. But the news brought us face to face with the possibility that something as life-changing as the emergency pill—the one saving grace women have when it comes to their reproductive rights and bodily autonomy—could be taken away, just like that.

Despite our progressive policy on the matter and the fact that more than 60% of emergency contraceptive pills in our country are sold over the counter, women often hesitate to buy it themselves. The fear of judgment and shame comes in the way of access.

In this episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose talk to two experts, Vinoj Manning, the CEO of the Ipas Development Foundation, and Leeza Mangaldas, a sex educator and author of The Sex Book, about about this chasm that exists between our seemingly progressive policies and our actual society and its attitude towards emergency contraceptive pills and women's reproductive rights.

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Tune in!

We are now on WhatsApp at +918971108379! Text us or send us a voice note to tell us what you thought of this episode.

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Previous Episode

Theobroma's dilemma: how to continue scaling while staying true to the 'artisanal' identity

Back in 2004, two sisters, Kainaz and Tina Messman, decided to turn their life-long passion for food and baking into a full fledged business. They set up Theobroma, a small cafe tucked away in a corner of Mumbai’s posh Colaba. Today, there are more than 200 Theobroma outlets in over 30 cities across the country.

The bakery chain’s evolution has been nothing short of remarkable. It has managed to build a profitable business that too in a category known to have products with one of the shortest shelf lives. The chain now commands a valuation of well over Rs 3,000 crore. In fact, investors like Chrys Capital, Bain Capital and Carlyle Group are queueing up to buy the 20-year-old brand.

But being in the big leagues has meant changing up its strategy. Over the years, Theorobroma has cut down the number of baked and semi-baked items on its menu, and instead filled their shelves with longer lasting products like cookies.

It’s been able to do that because of its massive, centrally located commissaries. And these strategic shifts have paid off big time. Because now investors are valuing the company at 7-9X its revenue. All of this is good news for its current promoters, the Messman sisters and the private equity investor ICICI Ventures, which invested $20 million between 2017 and 2019. Both are likely to exit with handsome returns.

But once that happens, where would that leave Theobroma? Most industry experts say that sailing through with new owners is no picnic.

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Daybreak Unwind recommendations for folk songs:

Rahel: Genda Phool, Delhi 6, 2009
Snigdha: Sketches of Darjeeling by Bipul Chettri, 2014
Anushka: Mor Bani Thanghat Kare by Jhaverchand Meghani
Hari: Kalakkatha Sandana Meram by Nanjamma

**Correction: Snigdha mistakenly said Mame Khan instead of Mangey Khan while talking about the Manganiyar singer's death. The error is deeply regretted.
Daybreak is now on WhatsApp at +918971108379. For next Thursday's Unwind, send us your recommendations to us as texts or voice notes. The theme is "coming of age."

Next Episode

What makes Cred an 'unusual' fintech?

Earlier this month, CRED, released its financials for the year ended March 2024 at a press conference. Cred claims to have about 13 million monthly active users. For the financial year ended March 2024, it saw revenue rise more than 60% to nearly $300 million, and losses shrink by around 40% to about U$70 million. Plus, its monthly transacting users grew by more than 30%.
Shah said how it's the top 10% of households who drive 60% of consumption. Even with UPI, he said, it was the top 30–40 million that drove billions of UPI transactions. And out of that target audience, Cred claims to have about 13 million monthly active users.

But Cred says it does not present the option to take a loan for many of its users. And while a little more than a third of them are qualified to borrow, only about 10% have taken on a loan. According to Shah, Cred has taken a deliberately conservative approach here, which is what makes Cred unusual and 'popular with the chief risk officers of banks in India.'

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We are now on WhatsApp at +918971108379! Text us or send us a voice note to tell us what you thought of this episode.

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.