New Delhi: Nearly 29% of products available in India’s local markets are perceived by consumers to be counterfeit, highlighting the growing challenge of fake goods across critical sectors, including pharmaceuticals and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), according to the State of Counterfeiting in India 2025 report jointly released by the Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA) and CRISIL Intelligence. The report warns that counterfeiting has evolved into a sophisticated organised ecosystem that threatens consumer safety, erodes brand trust, disrupts legitimate businesses and causes significant economic losses.
The findings, particularly those presented in pages 38 to 53 of the report, reveal widespread consumer exposure to counterfeit products across multiple categories. Pharmaceuticals emerge as one of the most sensitive sectors because counterfeit medicines not only deceive consumers but also pose direct risks to public health. The report notes that fake medicines can contain incorrect ingredients, inadequate therapeutic doses, harmful contaminants or no active pharmaceutical ingredient at all, resulting in treatment failure, adverse drug reactions, antimicrobial resistance and, in severe cases, death.
Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals Continue to Endanger Public Health
According to the report, consumers continue to encounter counterfeit medicines through both traditional retail channels and online marketplaces. The report stresses that counterfeit pharmaceutical products are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from genuine products because of sophisticated packaging, imitation labels and improved printing technologies.
The study highlights that growing online commerce, fragmented distribution networks and insufficient consumer awareness have increased opportunities for counterfeiters to infiltrate legitimate supply chains. Consumers surveyed expressed significant concern regarding the authenticity of medicines purchased outside trusted pharmacies, particularly for high-value prescription medicines, nutraceuticals and healthcare products.
The report recommends wider deployment of authentication technologies such as QR-code verification, product serialization, tamper-evident packaging, digital track-and-trace systems and consumer verification platforms. It also calls for stronger enforcement by regulatory authorities and greater collaboration between manufacturers, distributors and technology providers to prevent counterfeit medicines from reaching patients.
FMCG Sector Faces Increasing Counterfeit Threat
The report also identifies the FMCG sector as one of the principal targets of counterfeiters due to its enormous market size, rapid inventory turnover and extensive distribution network.
Counterfeit products in categories such as personal care items, packaged foods, beverages, household cleaners, cosmetics and hygiene products continue to infiltrate local markets, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas. Such products frequently imitate established brands through deceptively similar packaging, trademarks and labelling, making it difficult for consumers to differentiate genuine products from counterfeit ones.
According to the report, counterfeit FMCG products not only undermine consumer confidence but also expose users to potentially unsafe ingredients, poor manufacturing standards and substandard quality controls. Genuine manufacturers face revenue losses, damage to brand reputation and increased expenditure on anti-counterfeiting measures.
Consumer Awareness Improving, Yet Counterfeit Purchases Remain Common
One of the report’s notable findings is the increasing awareness among Indian consumers regarding counterfeit products. Despite greater awareness, a substantial proportion of consumers admitted having either unknowingly purchased counterfeit products or suspected that products bought from local markets were not genuine.
The report estimates that nearly 29% of products available in local Indian markets are perceived to be counterfeit, reflecting the scale of consumer concern regarding product authenticity. This perception extends across pharmaceuticals, FMCG products, apparel, automotive components, consumer electronics and other high-demand categories.
Consumers identified unusually low prices, poor packaging quality, spelling errors, missing authentication features and unreliable retail sources as the most common indicators of counterfeit products.
Authentication Technologies Becoming Essential
The ASPA–CRISIL report concludes that authentication technologies are rapidly shifting from optional brand-protection measures to essential components of supply-chain integrity.
Manufacturers are increasingly adopting security labels, holograms, serialized QR codes, RFID-based traceability, blockchain-enabled tracking systems and digital authentication platforms to enable both regulators and consumers to verify product authenticity.
The report recommends broader industry adoption of technology-driven authentication systems alongside stronger market surveillance, coordinated enforcement, public awareness campaigns and stricter penalties against counterfeit networks.
Fragmented Consumer Markets Increase Vulnerability
The report’s findings coincide with growing concerns expressed by leading FMCG companies regarding India’s increasingly fragmented consumer market. Industry leaders have observed that consumers are now purchasing across multiple retail formats—including neighbourhood stores, e-commerce platforms, quick-commerce services and informal distribution channels—making brand protection and product authentication significantly more challenging. This fragmentation, coupled with price-sensitive purchasing behaviour, has created additional opportunities for counterfeit products to enter the market.
Industry experts believe that combating counterfeiting will require coordinated action involving manufacturers, regulators, enforcement agencies, authentication technology providers, online marketplaces and consumers. They argue that strengthening supply-chain transparency and improving consumer verification mechanisms will be critical to protecting public health and preserving confidence in branded pharmaceutical and FMCG products.
Source : ASPA–CRISIL report
