New Delhi, Feb. 17 -- New Delhi: In a move to enhance transparency and curb corruption in India's pharmaceutical regulatory process, the Union government is working on a plan to overhaul drug sampling and testing procedures, according to two officials and documents reviewed by Mint.

Aimed at eliminating human interference, the plan utilizes digital tools to map every step of a drug sample's journey from the pharmacy shelf to the laboratory, with authentication via real-time mobile applications, unique QR codes, and mandatory videography.

This comes against the backdrop of a growing realization that traditional manual inspection and testing methods were vulnerable to manipulation in India's $50 billion pharmaceutical market.

The plan ha...