The confusing situation appeared in India on Wednesday as the Parliament approved the bill which prohibits domestic drug companies from producing low-cost copies of expensive Western medicines, while India has 5.1 million HIV-infected people in extreme need of that treatment.

International aid groups slammed the new law will limit the supply of cheap generic drugs to poor nations, threatening the survival of AIDS and cancer patients there.

The Paris-based Doctors Without Borders described the Indian move as "the beginning of the end of affordable generics."

The only companies which seem to profit from the law are multinational drug makers. It becomes all clear after considering the fact that a month’s dose of a generic AIDS drug cocktail makes only 5% of similar drugs sold by Western producers.

Royalties to be paid by generic producers to the companies holding patents also arouse great concern of the public. The new law does not provide any collar for royalty rates, as is done in many western countries.

But the slogans sound all optimistically: It "will move India toward the patent mainstream and support and encourage innovation and investment in research and development in India," said Ranjit Sahani, managing director of Novartis India.