The Telangana Drugs Control Administration conducted 244 seizures for violations of various laws enforced by the department in 2025 and detected 84 sub-standard drugs circulating in the market.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Telangana Drugs Control Administration (DCA) made 244 seizures for violations of various laws enforced by the department in 2025 and detected 84 sub-standard drugs circulating in the market, with the total value of seized medicines pegged at ₹1.39 crore. The figures were revealed in the enforcement agency’s annual report 2025, released on Wednesday.
During 2025, the DCA conducted 28,816 inspections across the State, detecting violations in 5,278 cases. This marked a marginal increase in inspections compared to 2024, when 25,253 inspections were carried out and violations were found in 4,102 cases.
In 2024, the DCA carried out 573 seizures, a figure that was more than 10 times the 56 seizures reported in 2023. The total value of drugs seized in 2024 stood at ₹7.46 crore, including spurious drugs worth ₹2.36 crore.
Misleading advertisements accounted for the highest number of seizures in 2025, with 140 cases registered under this category. This was followed by 38 cases involving quacks and unauthorised medical practitioners engaged in unlicensed stocking and sale of drugs, and 36 cases related to unlicensed medical shops, godowns, and illegal stocking and sale of medicines.
The agency also booked nine cases of drugs illegally manufactured and sold as food products or nutraceuticals, six cases linked to spurious drug rackets, four cases of unlicensed drug manufacturing and two cases of price violations. Another nine cases pertained to expired drugs, physician samples and other related offences.
As part of its surveillance and quality control measures, the DCA analysed 4,801 drug samples in 2025, of which 84 were found to be Not of Standard Quality (NSQ). According to the report, action has been initiated against the manufacturers under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. In comparison, the agency had analysed 3,902 samples in 2024 and detected 130 NSQ drugs.
The report also highlighted a significant enforcement milestone, with the DCA initiating stringent legal action against those involved in spurious drug offences. Four dealers were arrested during the year in connection with spurious drug cases. These arrests, carried out for the first time in the history of DCA Telangana, were described as a strong signal of zero tolerance towards the manufacturing, distribution and sale of spurious medicines.
Among the major operations undertaken in 2025 was a joint crackdown on a psychotropic drug racket in Hyderabad. In this operation, officials seized 1.2 lakh Alprazolam tablets worth ₹4.32 lakh from an unlicensed residential premises at Moosarambagh.
Published – December 31, 2025 08:19 pm IST
