New Delhi, Dec. 29 -- With thousands of small drug manufacturers struggling to meet tougher quality norms, the government is weighing a year's extension to the deadline for complying with the revised good manufacturing practices (GMPs), said two government officials aware of the development. The deliberations come ahead of the 1 January 2026 rollout of revised Schedule M standards that are aligned with World Health Organization norms. The Union health and family welfare ministry will hold consultations with state governments on the issue starting Monday, one of the officials said. Low compliance by the country's 8,500 MSMEs manufacturing pharmaceuticals would raise the risk of plant closures and disruptions across India's $50 billion pharmaceutical sector, a major global supplier of generic medicines. The revised Schedule M GMP had been earlier extended from the previous 1 January 2025 cutoff. The proposed extension for MSMEs, which have revenue of Rs.250 crore or less, comes in the backdrop of less than a third of them submitting their upgrade plans, with the remaining units risking immediate closure and penalties. There are a total of 10,500 drug manufacturing units in India, of which 8,500 fall under the MSME category. These units produce 70% of India's generic drugs and they face upgrade costs of Rs.10-15 crore per facility. Of these 8,500 MSMEs, 2,000 have already complied with the revised schedule for the new quality standards....