Posted On:
24 SEP 2026 5:08PM by PIB Thiruvananthpuram
HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL), a Mini Ratna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is expanding its pharmacy network across the country as part of its retail public healthcare services.
HLL aims to increase the number of pharmacy outlets under its network to 600 within the next one year. The expansion is expected to create around 4,500 new employment opportunities across the country.
HLL began its public healthcare retail services on September 26, 2011, with an outlet at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. The company will complete 15 years of operations this September 26, a day after World Pharmacists Day.
At present, around 2,000 pharmacists, including 863 women pharmacists, are working in HLL’s retail operations. With the expansion of its pharmacy network to around 600 outlets over the next year, the number of pharmacists is expected to reach approximately 4,500. The expansion will create opportunities for more pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to become part of HLL’s growing public healthcare retail network.
What began as a single outlet has now grown into a national pharmacy network with more than 300 outlets across India.
HLL currently has around 20 ‘HLL Pharmacy & Surgicals’ outlets, while the total number of HLL retail pharmacy centres stands at 340.
The journey began on September 26, 2011, with the opening of a Life Care Centre (LCC) at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. The outlet was later renamed ‘HLL Pharmacy & Surgicals’. This marked HLL’s first step into the retail healthcare sector, with the objective of making essential medicines, medical devices, implants and other healthcare products easily accessible and affordable to the public.
The initiative, which began as a retail outlet, has now grown into a national pharmacy network with more than 300 outlets across India.
The achievement is particularly significant as it comes in connection with World Pharmacists Day, observed on September 25, which recognises the important role played by pharmacists in providing medicines and supporting patients.
The theme of World Pharmacy Day 2026, “Empowering pharmacists for healthier futures,” reflects the vital role pharmacists play in healthcare.
Over the years, HLL has expanded its retail healthcare services through HLL Pharmacy, Free Generic Stores, HLL Opticals, AMRIT Pharmacy and AMRIT Opticals. HLL Opticals provides premium eyewear from leading brands at affordable prices, making quality spectacles and lenses available to the public at reasonable and cost-effective prices.
A significant chapter in HLL’s retail journey began in 2015, when the company took up the implementation of AMRIT (Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment), a scheme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. AMRIT aims to make medicines for cancer, cardiac diseases and other serious illnesses available at affordable prices. The initiative offers more than 6,500 medicines, implants, surgical products and other healthcare items at discounts of up to an average of 50 per cent on the Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
The first AMRIT Pharmacy was opened at AIIMS, New Delhi, in November 2015. Today, 285 AMRIT outlets are operational across 24 States and four Union Territories.
Since its inception, AMRIT has served more than 8.13 crore patients. Medicines and healthcare products worth approximately ₹22,323 crore at MRP have been distributed through the network, resulting in savings of around ₹10,969 crore for patients and helping reduce their out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure.
For HLL, retail is not merely about selling medicines, but about making essential healthcare more accessible and affordable to people, said Shri Benny Joseph, Director (Technical & Operations), HLL Lifecare Limited. He said that what began at an ‘HLL Pharmacy’ at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College has now grown into a much larger public healthcare retail network.
Pharmacists, he added, are an important part of this journey. Pharmacists are often among the healthcare professionals closest to patients when they need medicines and guidance, and they play a key role in ensuring that medicines are available safely, reliably and affordably. As HLL expands, the company aims to extend this commitment to more people across the country, he said.
HLL’s retail expansion is continuing through partnerships with Central and State Government public sector enterprises, including the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Coal India Limited (CIL) and Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), as well as government hospitals, port trust hospitals, medical colleges and other public healthcare institutions.
As it further expands its pharmacy network, HLL aims to make affordable medicines and healthcare products accessible to a larger number of people, including those living in remote parts of the country.
***
SK