Even in small villages with a population of less than 1,000, where certain remedies including cough syrups were allowed to be sold without retail sale licences so far, now only duly licensed pharmacies can dispense cough syrups.

According to the ministry of health, a prescription by a doctor will be required for the purchase of 'syrups', including cough syrups. | India News

To be sure, monitoring is lax, and even Schedule H drugs, which can only be sold on prescription, are freely available across the counter at pharmacies | India News

Chemists must now have a doctor's prescription to sell cough syrups. The government has changed the Drugs Rules, 1945. This stops over-the-counter sales of syrup-based medicines.…

You will now require a doctor’s prescription to buy cough syrups and other syrup medicines.

Govt amends rules to bring cough syrups under stricter regulatory oversight | India News

Indian syrups have been linked to deaths of children at home and abroad