New Delhi, June 25 -- The Union health ministry expanded mandatory track-and-trace requirements to cover all vaccines, antibiotics, cancer drugs and narcotic and psychotropic substances, widening an anti-counterfeiting system that previously applied only to India's 300 top-selling drug brands.

The rules, issued under Schedule H2 of the Drugs Rules, 1945, require manufacturers to print QR codes or barcodes, unique to each product, on packaging, allowing regulators and consumers to verify a product's authenticity, batch details, and manufacturing history with a scan.

The government expanded this system to ensure that fake products do not reach patients.

The implementation will follow two distinct deadlines to give companies time to adapt...