Strengthening India’s food supply chain with GS1 Standards

India is one of the major contributors to the agriculture sector globally. Increased globalisation has made it possible to access geographically dispersed suppliers of raw materials and manufacturing facilities, thereby expanding India’s reach in international markets. The Indian supply chain system, however, is getting increasingly complex as this sector continues to grow. This complexity has raised concerns about food quality and safety, requiring policymakers to enforce various regulations and issue directives, including those that relate to targeted product recalls and end-to-end traceability.

GS1 India works collectively with the government and several industry bodies to help the food & agriculture sector implement GS1 standards, ensuring compliance with these stringent regulations and promoting accessibility to safer, healthier, and quality food for all.

Benefits of implementing GS1 Standards

Supply chain transparency

GS1 standards for product traceability enable end-to-end visibility of food products empowering each supply chain stakeholder with authentic and accurate information on food products.

Targeted product recall

GS1 standards help meet compliance with FSSAI’s recall & traceability guidelines. This enables quick identification of the affected batch resulting in a targeted product recall.

Sustainability

GS1 standards lay the foundation for an optimised supply chain, empowering retailers/business owners with efficient inventory management, enabling them to optimise stock levels, reduce waste, and enhance resource utilisation.

Counterfeit detection

GS1 standards of unique product identification, particularly through serialised barcodes and RFID tags, along with other industry practices and solutions, help mitigate counterfeit food products in the supply chain.

Regulatory compliance

GS1 standards help the food and agriculture sector comply with regulatory requirements of food labelling, packaging, and traceability, enabling compliance with different country-specific regulations and standards.

Seamless data sharing

GS1 provides a common language for data exchange across the supply chain, from producers/manufacturers to distributors and retailers. This fosters better collaboration, reduces miscommunication, and strengthens partnerships between food and agriculture stakeholders.

Our projects

FSSAI compliance

The Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations 2020 advises businesses to have detailed product information on food packaging. The regulation states that nutritional information may additionally be provided in the form of a barcode/Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN). Also, brand owner’s address and the manufacturer’s licence number are exempted from the product labelling, provided they have been included in the product’s barcode/GTIN.

Indian Army Food Traceability

The Indian army uses GS1 barcodes to enable unit-level traceability of food and ration products supplied to the soldiers. GS1 India’s DataKart Trace service is used to check complete visibility is maintained ensuring only quality products reach the soldiers. 

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QR codes for pesticide traceability

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare issued a notification (dated: 3rd June, 2025) which states QR codes to be affixed on the retail packaging (either primary or secondary) of insecticides. These QR codes should include at least the product’s unique identifier or GTIN, batch number, date of manufacturing, date of expiry, and a web link or URL. This directive aims to ensure that chemicals for agricultural use, for pest control operators, for house hold use, for public health, and for others, are authentic and of high quality.

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