AYUSH Premium Mark Certification

The AYUSH Premium Mark is the higher of two levels in India's voluntary AYUSH Mark certification scheme for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy products. It certifies that a product complies with international norms, specifically the WHO's GMP guidelines for herbal medicines. The lower AYUSH Standard Mark certifies compliance with India's domestic rules.

Approach: None of the datasets I can search hold the AYUSH Mark scheme, so I used Ministry of Ayush statements to Parliament published by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). I couldn't open the Quality Council of India's own scheme page, so the scheme's detailed criteria and audit rules are not covered here.

What the scheme says

• Who runs it: The Quality Council of India (QCI) has operated the scheme since 2009. It is voluntary and covers ASU&H products (PIB, 22 Jul 2022).
• Premium Mark: The Ministry told the Lok Sabha that the "AYUSH Premium Mark is based on WHO's GMP guidelines covering herbal medicines" (PIB, 22 Jul 2022). An earlier statement to the Rajya Sabha described it as "for the Ayurveda products complying with International norms" (PIB, 16 Dec 2014).
• Standard Mark, for comparison: It "is based on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani medicines (Schedule T) as per Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945" (PIB, 22 Jul 2022).
• Who can apply: A manufacturer must already comply with domestic regulations. Products are certified only after the state government's State Licensing Authority has approved them (PIB, 22 Jul 2022).
• How it's awarded: In a March 2026 reply to the Rajya Sabha, the Ministry said QCI grants the standard and premium marks to Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani products "on the basis of third-party evaluation of quality in accordance with the status of compliance to domestic and international standards" (PIB, 18 Mar 2026).

The same March 2026 release lists other routes that are not the Premium Mark. CDSCO issues a WHO Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (WHO-CoPP) for Ayush drugs, and a separate "Ayush Quality Mark" for Ayush products and services was launched at the WHO Global Summit in December 2025 (PIB, 18 Mar 2026).