GS1 India releases healthcare report and launches Smart Consumer App

GS1 India celebrated 25 years of transforming the supply chain in India and aiding the digital transformation for SMEs, thus providing the roadmap for two-and-a-half decades of commitment to bring greater efficiency and resilience in the supply chain.

Dr Srikar Reddy, Joint Secretary Ministry of Commerce; Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO, Fortis Healthcare; Lt Gen MKS Yadav, SM; Vivek Chandra, CEO, Global Branded Business, LT Foods; Dilip Chenoy, Former Vice President, GS1 India and S Swaminathan, CEO, GS1 India were part of the inaugural ceremony.

On the occasion, Smart Consumer mobile app was launched by Dr Reddy. The ‘Smart Consumer App’ powered by DataKart, the National product data repository, provides a comprehensive platform for consumers to connect with the brand owners directly and access complete, accurate, and updated product information, including date of manufacturing, best before date, details of the manufacturer, quantity, ingredients, variants, consumer reviews, coupons and more on their mobile phones. It also allows the consumers to validate and authenticate product data, provide direct feedback to the manufacturer, and identify counterfeit products, thereby providing transparency in the system.

He said, “The Government of India has taken several initiatives to improve the economic situation in the country. To increase the domestic manufacturing capabilities, PM Modi, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, has approved the Production Linked Incentive schemes for 14 sectors in which India has the potential to become global champion.”

The event also provided the platform for the release of the Healthcare Report on “Building resilience in India’s post-Covid healthcare supply chain” by Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi. The report highlights the comprehensive joint study of GS1 India in collaboration with the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) to study the existing supply chain ecosystem of Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Manufacturers, the challenges faced along with their impact on other stakeholders in the entire healthcare supply chain, including hospitals, retail and online pharmacies.

Dr Raghuvanshi said, “As far as healthcare is concerned, the role of standardisation in GS1 standards is going to play a very vital and important role.  Healthcare is all about outcomes. It is an industry with financial implications, but what is most important is the health outcome. And the health outcomes are dependent a lot on how the care is delivered. One of the biggest problems in healthcare is errors and that is something which can be resolved by having standardisation in product identification and information.”

At the event, Lt Gen Yadav also shared his experience of working with GS1 India. He said, “We feed about 14 lakh people every day without fail. We take care of over 2-3 lakh vehicles which include aircraft, tanks, big trucks, small trucks, motorcycles, and very soon electric vehicles. We also formulate and decide what vehicles should be introduced in the army. What we needed was a way to monitor whether the supplies we were getting are of the quality assured by the vendors. GS1 India helped us achieved the same.”

At the prestigious event, CEO of GS1 India, S Swaminathan spoke at length about the numerous achievements of GS1 India over the past 25 years. He said, “The GS1 India journey reflects the growth of Indian economy and its place in the world stage. Over the years, GS1 India has helped the retail sector adopt the global practices from digitization to data integration, from supply chain management to industry collaboration.”