MedPlus


MedPlus, is an Indian pharmacy retailer headquartered in Hyderabad, India.

Overview

MedPlus is the second largest pharmacy chain in India. It operates 1555 stores out of which 1317 are company owned, 159 are franchisee owned and 43 are hospital-based pharmacies and optical stores are 29 and 3 are optical franchisee stores and 4 are webmart hubs are spread across 7 states and about 213 towns and cities in India.
MedPlus sells prescription and OTC medicines, FMCG products, vitamins and other nutrition supplements, and opticals. It also offers clinical laboratory services and physician consultation services in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Bengaluru, India. The company owns and runs ePharmacy and an online clinical lab service. MedPlus employs more than 14,000 employees on its rolls.

History

MedPlus was founded in 2006 by Dr. Madhukar Gangadi, a Wharton and Kurnool Medical College alumnus and the company's first store was launched at Tilak Nagar, Hyderabad in February 2006. Initially operating under the Aushadhi brand name, it was rebranded as MedPlus after the opening of the first 48 stores.
The company opened pharmacies in the western states of Gujarat and Rajasthan in 2007, but had to shut down and exit operations due to recurring losses. It relaunched stores in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 2014.
MedPlus started selling private label products in 2010 under brand names EatRite for Food products, and Avelia and Urbania for personal care products. It also introduced a loyalty programme.

Operating Structure and Subsidiaries

The Company provides Omni-channel access to its customers for its services via online, mobile, voice and physical retail fronts through a combination of its stores and the ePharmacy storE
It also offers home based clinical lab services through A portal and prescription and non prescription glasses and other optical products through its optical business subsidiary.

Criticisms

The AIOCD called for a nationwide strike on 14 October 2015 against online sale of drugs and criticized ePharmacies like MedPlusMart.com as illegal and a threat to the interests of around 8.5 lakhs chemists around India. MedPlus defended its online sales policy as being in compliance with the current drug act and as a valuable service to its customers.