The Indian government has cancelled the licences of 18 pharmaceutical companies as part of a crackdown on poor quality manufacturing, it has been reported.

The action on 29 March came after an inspection of 76 drug firms across 20 Indian states. The government is also understood to have given notices to a further 26 companies for not complying with good manufacturing processes.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry has an estimated 10 500 companies, with drug exports having more than doubled in the past decade. But the industry has faced a series of scandals of late, including a World Health Organization investigation into four contaminated cough syrups that caused acute kidney injuries and were linked to the deaths of 66 children in the Republic of the Gambia last year.