Tukaram Mundhe Acts Against 880 Maharashtra Pharma Units, Rs 11.41 Crore Stock Seized

Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has intensified the state’s crackdown on illegal and unsafe medicines, with action taken against 880 drug manufacturing and sales establishments and illegal drugs and cosmetics worth Rs 11.41 crore seized between June and August 2026.

The FDA conducted 2,902 inspections, including 607 at manufacturing establishments and 2,295 at sales outlets. Action was taken against 140 manufacturing units and 740 sales establishments. The department suspended 677 licences and cancelled 203 licences, while carrying out 104 search and seizure operations, registering 20 FIRs and arresting 21 people.

The manufacturing establishments covered allopathic, Ayurvedic and homeopathic drug makers, cosmetics manufacturers, blood centres, blood-storage centres and approved laboratories. The seized stock was valued at Rs 11.41 crore, compared with Rs 13.64 crore seized during the previous financial year.

Inspections uncovered substandard and unauthorised medicines, deficiencies in quality-control procedures and production records, sales without registered pharmacists’ supervision or bills, and dispensing of scheduled medicines without prescriptions. Officials also found improper handling of expired medicines and incorrect storage of temperature-sensitive products such as insulin and vaccines.

Other violations included the absence of qualified technical staff, discrepancies between batch manufacturing records and actual production, incomplete testing records and missing equipment-calibration records. Blood-related violations included improper storage of expired or contaminated blood bags, inadequate emergency kits and lapses in biomedical-waste procedures.

The FDA reported a 557 per cent rise in complaints, 378 per cent increase in complaint investigations and 217 per cent increase in search-and-seizure operations. The value of seized goods was reported to have risen 234 per cent against the comparable previous period.

The wider crackdown also saw the FDA collect 37,604 samples between June and August, including 34,584 food and 3,020 drug and cosmetics samples. Of 32,604 samples tested, 15,268 were found below prescribed standards, including 108 drug and cosmetics samples.

“Ensuring safe, quality and regulated medicines for citizens is the highest priority,” Mundhe said, adding that inspections had been accelerated from manufacturing to final sale. He said compliant establishments would be supported while violators would face strict action.