Check a Kerala drug licence

Who issues drug licences in Kerala

Retail and wholesale drug licences in Kerala are granted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Drugs Rules, 1945 by the Drugs Control Department, Kerala, the state licensing authority. It grants, renews, suspends and cancels licences, so a dispute about a licence's status is settled with it, not with us. Its official website is dc.kerala.gov.in.

Reading a Kerala drug licence number

Licence numbers in Kerala look like this today. Characters shown as x stand for the serial, which is different on every licence.

• RLF20KL2024xxxxxx

  Retail. RLF marks a retail licence, 20 is the form (21 for the Schedule C and C1 licence), KL is the state code, 2024 the year of issue, and the last six digits the serial. Restricted licences (Forms 20A and 21A, for shops without a pharmacist) begin RL instead, with the year before the state: RL20A2024KLxxxxxx.

• WLF20B2024KLxxxxxx

  Wholesale. WLF marks a wholesale licence and 20B is the form (21B for Schedule C and C1). Note the order changes: in a wholesale number the year comes BEFORE the state code KL, while in a retail number it comes after.

Older Kerala numbers you may still see

• KL-EKM-1xxxxx

  2014 to 2022: KL, a three-letter office code (such as EKM) and a six-digit serial that ran state-wide. Invoices often print only the six digits. The 20B and 21B licences of one wholesaler are consecutive serials.

• 7-xxx/20G/2008

  Before 2014: a district number, a serial, the form code and a year or office suffix.

• Kerala renumbered its drug licences when it moved to the national licence format in October 2022. A number in an older form, still printed on some invoices and letterheads, no longer appears in the state's records - that does not by itself mean the firm is unlicensed. Ask the firm for the number on its current certificate and check that instead.
• Enter the whole national number including the year of issue. Certificates sometimes print the year in a separate box, and without it the same six-digit serial can belong to several different pharmacies.

Which licence forms apply

A pharmacy or distributor in Kerala holds one or more of these licences. The form is printed on the certificate, usually beside the number.

Retail · Form 20 / 21

A chemist or pharmacy selling to the public. Form 20 covers drugs other than those in Schedules C, C1 and X; Form 21 covers Schedule C and C1 drugs. Most shops hold both.

Wholesale · Form 20B / 21B

A distributor or stockist selling to other licensees, with the same split between the two forms.

Restricted · Form 20A / 21A

A restricted licence for a dealer without a registered pharmacist, such as a general store in a village, limited to a narrow range of medicines.

What we check in Kerala: Retail (Form 20/21); Wholesale (Form 20B/21B).

What a result means

Valid

The licence is in the official records under that number, is not cancelled or suspended, and is within its validity. You see the firm name to compare with your invoice, and the date the records are as of.

Expired

The licence exists but its validity date has passed. The firm may have applied for renewal; ask for the renewed certificate before you trade.

Cancelled or suspended

The licensing authority has cancelled or suspended the licence. Do not buy from or sell to the firm under it until that changes.

Not found

No licence under that number in the Kerala records. Check the number and the state first, and whether it is an older number the state has since replaced.

More than one firm

The number as typed fits several firms. We name none of them rather than guess; enter the full number or the firm name.

Could not be checked

The official records could not be reached. We say so plainly: an outage is never reported as "not found", and a check that cannot be completed does not count against your monthly allowance.