India's e-pharmacy gap: who needs a drug licence when medicine is sold online?

Seizures of medicines from two Amazon-linked warehouses in Karnataka exposed a gap in India's Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, which licenses premises rather than the split roles of seller, marketplace, warehouse and delivery. Draft e-pharmacy rules from 2018 were never notified.

• The 1940 drug law licenses specific premises under Forms 20/21 and 20B/21B
• Karnataka FDA seized medicines from two Amazon-linked facilities in September
• Draft e-pharmacy rules published in 2018 were never notified
• The dispute centers on whether a warehouse storing third-party drugs needs its own licence