Medicine Expiry Date Decoder

Type the expiry exactly as it is printed on the pack. This tells you the last day you can legally sell that batch — and it is almost always later than pharmacists assume.

What each printed format means

Indian manufacturers do not use one convention. These all appear on real packs, and every month-and-year form means the same thing — usable through the final day of that month:

A two-digit year is this century — 26 is 2026. Note the last row: month-end is not always the 30th or 31st, and February moves in leap years, which is exactly the kind of edge a manual rule gets wrong.

Why the expiry month matters more than most shelves reflect

Expired stock cannot be sold. Selling an expired drug is an offence under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940, and a drug inspector finding expired stock on a sellable shelf is a serious finding regardless of whether anything was actually dispensed. So the safe instinct is to pull stock early.

But pulling it too early is a pure loss, and it compounds quietly. Most distributors accept saleable returns only within a window before expiry — commonly a few months — so a batch misread as expiring on the 1st can miss both the selling window and the return window. The correct reading is not a matter of preference: the month runs to its last day.

Why we built this

Nesayo is billing and inventory software for Indian retail pharmacies. Inside the product, every batch expiry goes through a single resolver that resolves a printed month to its last day, and expired batches are hard-blocked from being billed rather than merely flagged with a warning. This free decoder runs the exact same logic, in your browser, with nothing stored.

Frequently asked questions

Does EXP 08/2026 mean 1 August or 31 August?

31 August 2026. A month-and-year expiry is usable through the last day of that month.

Can I sell a medicine during its expiry month?

Yes — through the final day of that month. From the first day of the next month it is expired stock and must not be sold.

What does a two-digit year like 26 mean?

2026. Indian packs abbreviate the year; this century is assumed.

Is this an official or legal tool?

No. It is a free reference tool that interprets the printed format. Verify against the physical pack, and consult your state drug control department for how the rules apply to your situation.