Objective: Rational treatment of bronchial asthma is a serious problem in developing countries mainly because of access to medicines. This paper reports the availability and price of two inhalers in different states of India. Methods: The data collected for essential medicines at five sites utilizing a standardized methodology on medicine prices and availability was used to collate data for secondary analysis. The surveys were conducted in public (20-60) and private (20-60) facilities. Anti-asthma medicines, beclomethasone (50µg/dose) and salbutamol (0.1mg/dose) inhalers represented both as innovator brand (IB) and generic equivalent, were included in the analysis. Medicine prices were expressed as median price ratio (MPR) to an international reference price. The surveys were conducted in four states, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chennai, capital TamilNadu, state. Surveys were conducted from October – December 2004 except Rajasthan survey (April-June 2003). Results: Public sector: Availability - Generic version of both the inhalers was found only in the Rajasthan state. Availability of beclomethasone inhaler was 25% and 30% for salbutamol. Procurement price –Beclomethasone inhaler was 0.74 and salbutamol inhaler was 0.56 times the international reference price. Private sector: Availability – Beclomethasone inhaler was available as innovator brand (55%) and generic version (90%) in Chennai. In other states only generic version was available, in the range of 10% to 65%. Salbutamol inhaler was available in all states and in both the versions, availability ranging between 20% - 95% as innovator brand and 83 -100% as generic equivalent. Price – MPR for generic beclomethasone was in the range of 0.87-1.49 at all sites, IB was available in Chennai and the MPR was 1.08. MPRs for IB and generic salbutamol range between 0.86– 1.12 and 0.82–0.96 respectively. Conclusion: Policy interventions are required to improve access of affordable essential asthma medicines. Asthma needs to be recognized as a health priority chronic disease in India.