The absence of a quality mindset

Policymakers and the corporate sector need to understand that without adopting global quality standards, India cannot become a global manufacturing hub

It took several years of bad publicity — ranging from non-standard quality (NSQ) drugs and counterfeit medicines being sold freely in the domestic market to pharmaceuticals exported by Indian firms resulting in hundreds of deaths across multiple countries — before the Indian drug regulator decided to act. At the fag end of 2023, the government and the regulator — the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) — mandated that all drug manufacturers, irrespective of their size, would have to comply with the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) norms. The manufacturers will need to obtain WHO GMP certification