look news india
During the trading session of Monday (12 October 2026) in the Indian stock market, there was a sudden huge selloff in the shares of healthcare and hospital companies. The main reason behind this chaos among investors is the important hearing going on in the Supreme Court of the country, in which tough questions have been raised regarding the prices of medicines and the huge margins on the sale of medicines in hospitals. Due to this regulatory pressure, there has been a massive selloff in the shares of leading healthcare companies.
Why was there selling in the market and which stocks fell?
During trading on Monday, a sharp decline was seen in the shares of major hospital chains and healthcare companies of the country. Due to selling pressure from investors, the fall in Fortis Healthcare shares increased to about 3.5%. Apart from this, shares of Apollo Hospitals, Max Healthcare and Aster DM Quality Care were also seen trading with a weakness of 2% to 3%. At the same time, a huge fall of up to 6% was recorded in the shares of North India’s second largest private hospital chain ‘Park Medi World’, due to which the concerns of investors have increased further.
Supreme Court’s strict comments on drug prices and trade margins
The reason behind this entire incident is the legal hearing going on in the Supreme Court, in which the court has expressed deep displeasure over the high profits charged by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. During the hearing held on Monday, the Central Government told the Supreme Court that it is very important to maintain a balance between the prices of medicines and their availability. The government clarified that it does not intend to directly regulate the entire pharmaceutical market, as drug prices in India are already much lower than global prices.
However, raising sharp questions on this argument, the Supreme Court said that why the entire pharmaceutical market cannot be controlled, and the court is working to strengthen the hands of the government. Making a scathing comment, the court said that drug manufacturing companies fix prices citing Research and Development (R&D) expenses, but in reality many life-saving medicines are sold to the general public at prices many times higher than their Maximum Retail Price (MRP). Even before this, the Supreme Court had termed the huge margins on cancer medicines in hospitals as a ‘wreak’ and suggested implementing a uniform 16% trade margin on all medicines.
Investors’ eyes are now on the next hearing on October 27.
These strict comments of the court and the fear of policy changes have shaken the confidence of investors, due to which this correction is being seen in healthcare stocks. Now the Supreme Court has postponed this high-profile case for next hearing. 27 October 2026 The date has been fixed. Now the eyes of market experts and investors are completely focused on what final guidelines are issued by the government and the court in the upcoming hearing regarding the profits of the pharmaceutical industry and hospitals.