Telangana DCA inspects 166 medical shops in drive against online pharmacies, issues notices to 41
Hyderabad, June 7
Telangana's Drugs Control Administration on Sunday conducted a special enforcement drive on online pharmacies across the state on June 6, 2026, to check compliance with the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
During the drive, officials inspected 166 medical shops. Of these, 159 were linked to online medicine delivery services, including licensed premises of online pharmacy operators and their networked partner pharmacies. Seven shops were associated with online B2B platforms such as IndiaMART.
According to the DCA offical, "Drugs Control Administration, Telangana, conducted a Special Enforcement Drive on online pharmacies across the State on 6 th June 2026 to verify practices and ensure compliance with the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules made thereunder. During the drive, a total of 166 medical shops were inspected."
These included 159 shops linked to online medicine delivery services (licensed premises of online pharmacy operators or their networked partner pharmacies) and 7 shops associated with online B2B platforms such as IndiaMART, the Drugs Control Administration stated.
Director General Drugs Control Administration informed that "the irregularities observed during the inspections include non-maintenance and failure to produce sales bills of medicines, failure to maintain prescription drug registers and Schedule H1 drug registers, failure to produce purchase invoices for medicines, dispensing of prescription medicines without valid prescriptions issued by a Registered Medical Practitioner, sale of medicines without the supervision of a Registered Pharmacist, and improper maintenance of copies of sales and purchase records."
According to DCA, Show Cause Notices were issued to 41 medical shops across the State linked to online pharmacies, and further action will be initiated as per the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Rules made thereunder.
The DCA reiterates that strict compliance with statutory requirements is mandatory for all medical shops, including those associated with online platforms. Any deviation from the prescribed norms will attract stringent action under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, Director General Drugs Control Administration stated.
— ANI
Reader Comments
As someone living in a remote village near Warangal, online pharmacies are a lifeline for us. But I agree safety should come first. The DCA should also focus on making genuine medicines more accessible in rural areas, not just cracking down on delivery services.
DCA should also check IndiaMART - those B2B platforms are selling medicines in bulk without any checks. This is how fake drugs enter the system. My cousin got a bad reaction after ordering from one such platform. Good step but more needs to be done! 🏥
I moved to Hyderabad from the UK and was shocked to see how easy it is to get prescription drugs here. In the UK, pharmacies check prescriptions online with your GP. India needs similar integrated systems instead of just punishing shops. Just my two cents!
Arre yaar, every time there's a drive, they inspect shops in cities only. What about rural areas where people buy medicines from unlicensed vendors? The DCA needs to be more systematic. But I appreciate the effort to regulate online sales - it's a growing problem.
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