New Delhi, May 30 -- State drug inspectors will be able to conduct surprise audits of spas, salons, and massage centres for the first time, targeting a surge in unauthorised medical procedures sold as beauty treatments in a $20 billion industry that has operated with little regulatory check, according to three government officials aware of the development.

The crackdown follows a directive from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) clarifying that injectables fall outside the legal definition of cosmetics. Officials say salon workers have increasingly been administering treatments such as glutathione infusions directly into clients' bloodstreams, in violation of the Cosmetics Rules, 2020 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, withou...