A digital visiting card for medical representatives, inside the UCPMP 2024 code
Your card carries your company's name into a doctor's clinic, so the company answers for what it says. The 2024 pharma marketing code sets the limits, and a profile can stay well inside them.
Yes. Nothing in the UCPMP 2024 code stops a medical representative using a digital card. It holds the company responsible for its representatives, rules out gifts, hospitality and inducements to doctors, and bars misleading drug claims. Keep the profile to who you are and how to reach you, link to approved drug information, and get the company to approve it once.
- Company name and divisionFine
- Territory and how to reach meFine
- Link to company drug informationCompany decides
- Doctor testimonialLeave off
- Gift or treat offerLeave off
The company answers for it, so the company should approve it
The code defines a medical representative as sales staff, including people hired through third parties, who call on healthcare professionals, pharmacies, hospitals or facilities to promote drugs. It then says companies are responsible for the activities of their employees, and that this should be written into the employment contract. In practice, that turns a profile from a personal choice into a company decision.
- Step 1 - The company
Approves the profile once
Compliance or marketing signs off a single template: name, role, company, contact buttons, and a link to the approved drug information page.
- Step 2 - The representative
Fills in only their own details
The representative adds their name, photo and territory. They do not add claims, offers or anything the template does not already carry.
- Step 3 - The doctor
Taps, reads and decides
The doctor sees who you are and who you work for, and asks for anything more. No gift, no favour and no pressure sits anywhere in the flow.
Can this go on my profile? Pick a line
Each answer comes from the UCPMP 2024 code, updated on 1 September 2025, with the clause behind it. The table lists 14 items: 3 marked "Fine to show", 2 marked "Company decides" and 9 marked "Leave off".
The rule behind this answer: Clause 3.6.
| Item | Verdict | Why | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your name, role and your company’s name | VerdictFine to show | WhyThis says who you are and who you represent. Any profile issued with your company’s authority has to meet the code, and this part does. | RuleClause 3.1 |
| Phone, WhatsApp, email and your territory | VerdictFine to show | WhyWays to reach you and the area you cover make no claim about a drug. | Rule- |
| A "last reviewed" date on any drug information you link | VerdictFine to show | WhyThe code asks for the date of printing or last review on technical and informative material, and for the date the drug particulars were last updated. | RuleClause 3.8 |
| A link to your company’s approved drug information page | VerdictCompany decides | WhyThe company decides what that page says. Where material is meant to help a doctor decide on a prescription, the code wants the generic name, dosage, adverse reactions, warnings and a date in it. Link to the page, do not retype it. | RuleClause 3.2 |
| Claims about what a drug does, written on the profile | VerdictCompany decides | WhyA drug must be promoted in line with its marketing approval, and information must be balanced, verifiable and open to substantiation. That is the company’s call, not the representative’s. | RuleClauses 1.2 and 1.3 |
| Calling a drug "safe", "no side effects" or "new" | VerdictLeave off | Why"Safe" cannot be used without qualification, a medicine cannot be said to have no side effects, and "new" is only for a drug generally available for less than a year. | RuleClauses 2.2 and 2.3 |
| Comparing your drug with a rival brand by name | VerdictLeave off | WhyAnother company’s brand name cannot be used in a comparison without that company’s prior consent, and any comparison must be factual, fair and open to substantiation. | RuleClauses 2.4 and 2.5 |
| Remarks about other companies or their products | VerdictLeave off | WhyOther companies, their products, services or promotions must not be disparaged, directly or by implication. | RuleClause 2.6 |
| Photos or names of doctors, or a doctor’s testimonial | VerdictLeave off | WhyThe names or photographs of healthcare professionals must not be used in promotional material. | RuleClause 3.6 |
| A gift, voucher or offer for the doctor or their family | VerdictLeave off | WhyNo gift should be offered for personal benefit, to a healthcare professional or to a family member, immediate or extended. The same goes for any pecuniary advantage or benefit in kind. | RuleClause 8.1 |
| A trip, hotel stay or expensive meal offered through an invite | VerdictLeave off | WhyTravel, hotel stays, expensive cuisine and resort accommodation are ruled out, unless the person is a speaker at a CME or CPD programme. | RuleClauses 8.2 and 8.3 |
| Any cash, grant or payment linked to prescribing | VerdictLeave off | WhyCompanies and their representatives should not pay cash or a monetary grant to a healthcare professional or their family, under any pretext. | RuleClause 8.4 |
| A favour or payment to get a meeting | VerdictLeave off | WhyA representative must not use any inducement or subterfuge to gain an interview, and must not pay, under any guise, for access to a healthcare professional. | RuleClause 4.3 |
| A form for ordering free samples through the profile | VerdictLeave off | WhySamples must be handed directly to the doctor or a person they authorise, and the doctor’s name and address noted. An online order does not fit that, so keep samples out of the profile. | RuleClause 5.1 |
A follow-up that starts with the doctor's request
A visit ends, and the usual next step is a WhatsApp message with a brochure nobody asked for. This flow reverses it: the doctor chooses each step, and you answer with material your company has approved.
The doctor taps the card, or scans the QR
The profile opens in the phone’s browser with no app. Keep the first screen to your name, your company and how to reach you.
They save your contact if they want to
One tap saves your name, company, phone, email and social links into their phone. People who use it are recorded for you, with name, email and phone, in a list you can export.
They write to you only if they want something
An enquiry from the profile arrives in Dashboard → Inquiries with their name, email, phone and message. The doctor asked, so you are answering, not chasing.
You reply with approved material only
Send what your company has approved, dated, and nothing you wrote yourself about a drug. If they ask something outside it, take it to your medical team.
Records stay with the company
The contact list is not a sample log and not a call report. Sample records with the doctor’s name and address are the company’s to keep, as clause 5.1 requires.
Do not add a thank-you at the end. No gift should be offered for the personal benefit of a healthcare professional or their family, and a voucher sent after a good visit is still a gift.
The eight rules on free samples, in one table
Samples are the one place where a representative hands over a real thing. Clause 5.1 of the code sets the conditions for free samples. They are the company's to track, not the profile's, but every representative should know them.
| Rule | What the code says |
|---|---|
| Who can receive one | What the code saysOnly a person qualified to prescribe that product. |
| How it is handed over | What the code saysDirectly to the prescriber, or to a person they authorise. The healthcare practitioner’s name and address are noted for records. |
| What it is for | What the code saysCreating awareness about treatment options and gaining experience with the product. |
| How much | What the code saysPacks for not more than three patients’ course of treatment, and no more than twelve sample packs per drug per doctor per year. |
| How it is labelled | What the code saysEach sample is marked "free medical sample not for sale", or with a legend that means the same. |
| Pack size | What the code saysNot larger than the smallest pack sold in the market. |
| Drugs left out | What the code saysNo samples of a hypnotic, sedative or tranquilliser. |
| The company’s limit | What the code saysThe value of samples given out must not exceed two percent of the company’s domestic sales in a year. |
One approval, one login, a card for every representative
On the Enterprise plan one account holds many profiles, all managed from the same login. A representative's link is tied to a role, such as a company and territory, not to a person's name, so when someone moves on, the next person takes over the same link and the printed QR on every card already given out keeps working. Read more on the corporate teams and sales and field teams pages, or the bulk cards page.
| Profiles | Plan, per year | Plan cost per representative |
|---|---|---|
| 20 representatives | Plan, per year₹5,000 | Per representative₹250 a year |
| 40 representatives | Plan, per year₹7,000 | Per representative₹175 a year |
| 50 representatives | Plan, per year₹10,000 | Per representative₹200 a year |
The NFC card is a separate one-time ₹1,699 each. Above 50 profiles, pricing is quoted on request. A single representative who buys their own card needs only the ₹199-a-year Basic plan, and should still have the company's approval first.
The 2014 code was voluntary. The 2024 code has a complaints system
- 12 December 2014
The first UCPMP
The Department sent the first code to industry associations to be adopted voluntarily, from 1 January 2015, with a review after six months.
- 12 March 2024
UCPMP 2024 notified
A new code, with an ethics committee in each industry association, a list of penalties, and an appeal to an apex committee headed by the Secretary of the Department.
- 1 September 2025
Latest amendment
Circular No. 3 of 2025 changed how free samples are valued, simplified the marketing spending report, and added clause 14.4, which makes the company's chief executive responsible for adherence. The version quoted on this page is the one marked as updated on that date. A file named UCPMP.pdf on the Department's site is the 2014 code, so check the date on any copy before you rely on it.
This page explains a published government code. It is not legal advice. Your company's compliance team decides how the code applies to your role.
Questions from medical representatives
Can a medical representative use a digital visiting card?
Yes. Nothing in the UCPMP 2024 code stops it. The code does hold the company responsible for what its medical representatives do, and it limits what can be said about a drug and what can be offered to a doctor. A profile that stays with your name, your company and how to reach you is well inside those limits.
Who is responsible for what is on my card?
Your company. The code says companies are responsible for the activities of their employees, including medical representatives, and that this should be written into the employment contract. It also counts contract staff hired through third parties as medical representatives. So the company should approve the profile, ideally once, as a template.
Can I put drug information or claims on the profile?
Only if your company approves them. A drug must be promoted consistently with its marketing approval, and information must be balanced, up to date, verifiable and able to be substantiated. The safer way is to link to your company’s own approved drug information page and leave the claims off the profile.
Can I add doctors’ photos, names or testimonials?
No. The code says the names or photographs of healthcare professionals must not be used in promotional material.
Can I give a gift or a treat after a visit?
No. The code says no gift should be offered for the personal benefit of a healthcare professional or a family member, and it rules out cash, travel and hospitality such as hotel stays and expensive meals, except for a speaker at a CME or CPD programme. It also bars paying, under any guise, for access to a doctor.
Can doctors order free samples through the profile?
Leave that out. A sample must be handed directly to the doctor, or to a person they authorise, and the doctor’s name and address must be noted for records. Those records are the company’s to keep. The profile is not a sample log.
What happens if the code is broken?
Complaints go to the Ethics Committee for Pharma Marketing Practices of the company’s industry association. It can suspend or expel the company from the association, reprimand it and publish the details, require a corrective statement, and ask it to recover money or items given in breach. An appeal goes to an apex committee headed by the Secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals.
Is this the same code as 2014?
No. The 2014 code was issued as a voluntary code for the industry. The 2024 code was notified on 12 March 2024, adds the complaints and penalty system above, and makes the company’s chief executive responsible for adherence. A PDF named UCPMP.pdf on the Department’s website is the 2014 code, so check the date before you cite it.
Sources: Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India
Does this apply to medical device representatives?
The code says its provisions apply, with the necessary changes, to medical devices and to companies that make or sell them, unless the Department exempts or modifies them through standing orders. Ask your company which version it follows.
Do doctors need an app to open the card?
No. A tap on the NFC card or a scan of the QR code opens the profile in the phone’s browser, and the doctor can save your contact in one tap.
See also: the doctors’ side: what a clinic’s own card may carry, sales and field teams and corporate teams. The full list is on the industries page, and the how to use your card guide covers the tap itself.
Sources
Every clause is quoted or closely paraphrased from the Department of Pharmaceuticals' own documents, read in full on the date shown.
- Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, Uniform Code for Pharmaceuticals Marketing Practices (UCPMP) 2024, updated as on 1 September 2025 (Circular No. 3 of 2025). Checked .
- Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, Uniform Code for Pharmaceuticals Marketing Practices (UCPMP), letter of 12 December 2014 (voluntary code). Checked .
A card the company can sign off once and every representative can use.
One tap gives a doctor your name, your company and a way to reach you, and it stays current without a reprint.