How to Vet an Indian Wellness Supplier: A Buyer's Checklist Before the First Order

Most sourcing problems with Indian wellness products don’t start at the port. They start months earlier, when a buyer picks a supplier on the strength of a website, a price and a friendly call. The product may still be good. But if you haven’t checked who makes it, under which licence and to what specification, you won’t know until something goes wrong.

This checklist is what we work through before recommending a producer to a client. Use it on every supplier on your shortlist, including us.

1. Confirm the company exists, and who you are contracting with

Start with the basics, because they take minutes and rule out the worst cases.

• Legal name and registration. Indian companies have a Corporate Identification Number (CIN) that you can look up on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal. Check that the name, address and directors match what you’ve been told.
• GST registration. A GSTIN can be checked on the GST portal. It should belong to the same legal entity.
• Importer Exporter Code (IEC). Anyone exporting from India needs an IEC from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. Ask for it.
• Who the contract is with. Many exporters are traders or sourcing companies, not manufacturers. That is fine, as long as they say so. You should know whether you are buying from the factory or from someone managing the factory for you.

2. Match the licence to the product

The licence a producer needs depends on what the product is, not what it is called on the label.

Product type	Licence or registration to ask for
Ayurvedic medicines and classical formulations	Ayurvedic drug manufacturing licence from the state licensing authority
Herbal supplements, nutraceuticals, teas, spices	FSSAI licence (central licence for exporters)
Products sold into the US	US FDA food facility registration for the site that makes them
Organic claims	A valid organic certificate for the product, checked on the certifier’s database

A common trap is a certificate that is genuine but covers a different site, a different product group or has expired. Read the scope and the date on every certificate, and check that the address matches the factory that will make your batch.

Be wary of any supplier that describes its products or factory as “FDA approved”. The FDA does not approve dietary supplements or the facilities that make them. Facilities register with the FDA; they are not approved by it.

3. Ask for a real Certificate of Analysis, and read it

Ask for a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) from a recent, anonymised batch of the product you want. A useful CoA:

• names the product, batch number and date;
• states each test, the method and the limit, not just “complies”;
• covers identity and active content, plus contaminants your market cares about, such as heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury), microbial counts and, for botanicals, pesticide residues;
• says whether testing was in-house or by an external laboratory, and names the lab.

For your first order, plan to send a sample to an independent lab yourself. It costs far less than a rejected shipment, and it tells you whether the supplier’s own figures can be trusted. We explain what to test for in our quality and documentation guide.

4. Run a proper sample process

Samples are not a formality. They are where the specification gets agreed.

1. Write the specification first. Form, particle size or piece size, active content, moisture, colour, taste, packaging and labelling. If it isn’t written down, it isn’t agreed.
2. Ask for samples from the production line, not a hand-made batch prepared for sales.
3. Keep a retained sample of what you approve. It is your reference if a later batch looks or tastes different.
4. Approve in writing, with photos, so both sides know exactly what “the approved sample” means.

5. Check the factory, or have someone check it for you

You don’t always need to fly to India, but someone should see the site. Options include a visit by your own team, a third-party inspection company, or a sourcing partner on the ground. On a visit, look for:

• raw material storage that is clean, dry and labelled;
• batch records you can trace from raw material to finished goods;
• a quality person with real authority to hold a batch;
• packing that happens in a controlled area, not in a corridor.

Photos and video calls help, but ask to see the specific line that will make your product.

6. Talk to references

Ask for two or three current international customers, ideally in your region, and call them. Ask how the supplier handled a problem, not just whether they are happy. Every supplier has good batches; what you’re trying to learn is what happens with a bad one.

7. Get the commercial terms in writing

Before the first purchase order, agree in writing:

• MOQ per SKU and per packaging component. Labels, pouches and cartons often carry their own minimums.
• Lead times for each stage: samples, packaging, production, testing and dispatch.
• Incoterm (for example FOB or CIF) and who prepares which export documents.
• Payment terms and what triggers the final payment, such as approval of the pre-shipment CoA.
• What happens if a batch fails: who pays, how quickly it is remade, and how you’re told.
• Formula and artwork ownership, if you are developing a private label product.

Red flags

Walk away, or slow down, if you see any of these:

• No batch CoAs, or CoAs with no methods or limits.
• Certificates that “can’t be shared”, have expired, or cover a different address.
• Claims of “FDA approval”, or medical claims you could never use in your market.
• A price far below every other quote you’ve received.
• Pressure to skip samples or testing “to save time”.
• No physical address you can verify, or reluctance to let anyone visit.

How we use this checklist

At TrueSource Global we run these checks on the producers we work with, and we tell clients who makes their product and which documents come with it. If you’d like us to check a supplier you’ve already found, or to shortlist producers for you, tell us what you’re sourcing. You can also read our step-by-step guide to sourcing Ayurvedic products from India.