Two major instances of counterfeit life-saving drugs being uncovered in the past two weeks have raised concern among consumers. Industry executives say counterfeiting is a growing challenge, with fake drugs becoming harder to detect even as authorities try to crack the networks. Mint explains what is driving the problem, its impact on consumers and the regulatory response.
What happened?
On 13 September, a special investigation team of Bengaluru police and the drugs control department uncovered a large counterfeit medicine racket suspected of supplying fake cancer drugs, ICU injections and other life-saving medicines to more than 90 hospitals and clinics at discounts of about 50%.
A week earlier, media outlets reported that the drug regulator had flagged a batch of rabies vaccine Abhayrab as substandard and potentially spurious after it failed a potency test. The batch had been seized during a Delhi raid in April. Manufacturer Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL), which has a 40% share of India’s rabies vaccine market, said the flagged vials were not made by it.
It was the second time in less than two years that concerns over counterfeit Abhayrab had surfaced.
Counterfeit drugs are fake or falsified medicines passed off as genuine, but may contain incorrect or no active ingredients, wrong ingredients or be expired.
How serious is the problem?
Counterfeit drugs are not new in India, where the healthcare market has a sizable counterfeit market, according to various reports. While many cases involve over-the-counter medicines, oral drugs, nutraceuticals and supplements, authorities are increasingly uncovering fake life-saving medicines such as cancer drugs and vaccines.
About 15-20% of products in the domestic healthcare market are believed to be counterfeit, according to a 2025 report by Crisil and the Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (Aspa). That compares with 0.2% in the US and Europe, according to a 2025 report in the Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice.
Aspa reported 521 instances of healthcare-product counterfeiting between 2018 and 2025, with cases doubling to 52 in 2025. Instances peaked in 2020 and 2021 amid the surge in demand during the covid-19 pandemic.
How are consumers affected?
Spurious drugs can be life-threatening, particularly in the case of medicines such as rabies vaccines. They can cause treatment failure because of missing active ingredients, poisoning from contamination or antimicrobial resistance.
Many counterfeit drugs are sold through direct retail or unreliable online channels, making authentication more difficult for consumers. In an Aspa-Crisil survey, 33% of consumers said they had encountered counterfeit healthcare products at least once in the previous 12 months. The perceived share of counterfeits in healthcare products also rose from 20% to 28% between 2018 and 2025.
What do experts say?
Industry experts caution that counterfeiters are becoming harder to detect, copying QR codes and holograms and procuring packaging material from original suppliers. Interstate networks and complex supply chains also make these operations harder to trace.
Leading brands are often targeted, with the problem increasingly extending to cancer drugs and vaccines, Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, told Moneycontrol after the Abhayrab samples were flagged. Jain called for stronger legal provisions, including fast-track courts, to deal with counterfeit medicine cases.
What are regulators doing?
In June, the health ministry expanded the QR code-based track-and-trace framework to all vaccines, antimicrobials, anti-cancer drugs and narcotic and psychotropic drugs covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. Drugmakers have until July 2027 to add the QR code to packaging.
The system previously covered the country’s top 300 pharmaceutical brands. The expansion is intended to widen traceability and strengthen safeguards against counterfeit and substandard medicines.