The Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) has cancelled the drug licences of 14 establishments and suspended those of 29 firms in Lucknow’s Aminabad medicine market after an investigation found alleged cross-billing, fake medicines and operational deficiencies. The action has widened a city-level crackdown involving seizures, police cases and arrests linked to the circulation of counterfeit drugs.
An FSDA official said the establishments whose licences were cancelled had been found involved in cross-billing and the trade in fake medicines. Licences of other firms were suspended after deficiencies were identified in their operations. The enforcement action follows an investigation conducted in August into how medicines were being purchased, sold and recorded across parts of Lucknow’s wholesale and retail network.
According to the FSDA, some firms were recording purchases and sales on paper while circulating fake and counterfeit medicines in the market. The findings point to a regulatory challenge extending beyond individual shops: authorities are examining transaction records, warehouse operations, billing systems and the physical movement of medicines through the city’s supply chain.
Nine first information reports were registered at Aminabad police station on August 12 against the firms under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The cases form part of a wider investigation in which nine FIRs have been registered against 32 people and two arrests have been made, according to the official cited by the Times of India.
The FSDA also said fake medicines were seized in July from illegal warehouses in Alambagh, Bakshi Ka Talab and Aminabad. A separate FIR was registered against eight Aminabad firms and a software vendor over allegations of fake billing and software tampering. The involvement of a software vendor has brought digital records and billing platforms into the enforcement investigation, alongside physical inspections and seizures.
A cross-billing syndicate operating without the physical supply of medicines was also detected in Kaiserbagh. Such transactions can make it difficult for regulators to establish whether medicines moved through the legitimate distribution chain, while creating documentary trails that may not correspond to actual stock movement. The FSDA’s investigation is examining these practices as part of the broader crackdown.
Illegal medicines worth approximately Rs 41.58 lakh have been seized in Lucknow so far. The seizures span established commercial areas and locations identified by officials as illegal warehouse sites, indicating that the enforcement operation is not limited to a single market or premises. For residents, the action concerns the reliability of medicines sold through the city’s supply network and the ability of regulators to trace products from suppliers to retailers.
The FSDA official said simultaneous action against multiple establishments in Aminabad’s drug market had caused panic among traders and that the campaign against the network involving fake medicines and fake billing would continue. The next steps include continuing the enforcement campaign and pursuing the registered police cases against the firms and individuals named in the investigation.
