GS1 India CEO Calls for Greater Standardisation in Pharmaceutical QR Codes to Enhance Supply Chain Traceability

The healthcare and pharmaceutical supply chain in India requires a deeper level of standardisation in how QR code data is presented, according to S Swaminathan, Chief Executive Officer of GS1 India.

While recent government mandates require quick response codes on medicinal products, simply providing isolated consumer information is insufficient to secure the entire supply chain and weed out potential counterfeits, Swaminathan explained.

The Central government recently expanded its initiative to mandate QR codes on specific medicinal products, including cancer drugs, narcotics, psychotropic drugs, and vaccines, by July 1, 2027. This requirement will extend to antimicrobials by July 1, 2028. These mandates build upon an earlier 2022 initiative that required the top 300 drug brands to sport QR or bar codes starting in August 2023.

According to Health Ministry notes, these QR codes provide consumers with nine distinct data elements. These include the unique product identification code, the proper and generic name of the drug, the brand name, the manufacturer's name and address, the batch number, dates of manufacture and expiry, the manufacturing licence number, and details of excipients. Digital authentication tools using these details are intended to facilitate the verification and tracking of medicines.

However, Swaminathan pointed out that the current framework must advance to a standardised format that can be read uniformly across warehouses, distributors, stockists, and chemists. Such linkages would enable end-to-end traceability from the point of origin to the final dispensation, particularly if issues arise requiring product recalls.

Swaminathan pegged the current evolution of the track-and-trace journey in India at 2 on a scale of 10, indicating a long path ahead in establishing comprehensive linkages, especially regarding medical devices. While companies involved in exports already align with international standards, he stressed the need for greater standardisation and streamlining within the domestic market as well.

GS1, established by the Commerce Ministry and industry bodies as an affiliate of GS1 Global, outlines standards for product information transfer. Swaminathan noted that India cannot operate in silos and must align with internationally recognised systems to ensure universal encoding of product, batch, and expiry data. He added that such interoperability strengthens patient safety, builds consumer confidence, and benefits every stakeholder in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

"The push for standardized QR codes in the pharmaceutical sector is a critical step toward building transparency and protecting consumer safety. As regulatory timelines approach for mandatory code implementation, businesses across the supply chain must proactively align their operations with uniform digital standards. Achieving true traceability requires seamless integration from manufacturing plants down to local chemists, which will ultimately reduce counterfeiting and strengthen trust in the Indian healthcare ecosystem." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes