Check a Odisha drug licence

Who issues drug licences in Odisha

Retail and wholesale drug licences in Odisha are granted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Drugs Rules, 1945 by the Directorate of Drugs Control, Odisha, 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 drugscontrol.odisha.gov.in.

Reading a Odisha drug licence number

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

• CU-2xxxx

  A district prefix (such as CU or KH) and a serial. Some longer numbers look like BH-II-NZ-0xxx.

Older Odisha numbers you may still see

• BA xxxxx R

  Older paper certificates print a district prefix, a serial and a class letter separated by spaces.

• Odisha firms often print a class marker after the number - /R for retail, /W for wholesale. It describes the licence and is not part of the number.
• Some Odisha licence numbers are only four digits long. A number that short is not unique on its own, so we may ask for the firm name to settle it rather than guess.

Which licence forms apply

A pharmacy or distributor in Odisha 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 Odisha: 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 Odisha 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.