A GTIN is the number printed under a product barcode. In India the common form is the 13-digit EAN-13 (GTIN-13), which starts with the country prefix 890 when issued by GS1 India; the 12-digit UPC used in North America and the 14-digit GTIN-14 used on shipping cases are variants of the same standard. Amazon asks for a GTIN, EAN or UPC when you create a listing and checks it against the GS1 database; Flipkart, Myntra and the quick commerce platforms use it to match your product to their catalogue and to scan cartons at inwarding. A product without a valid GTIN either cannot be listed or needs a platform exemption, and one with a GTIN that belongs to another company is usually rejected as a mismatch.
How it is issued and what it costs
GTINs are allocated by GS1 India, the local member of the GS1 network, against a GS1 Company Prefix (GCP). You subscribe for a block of barcodes (100, 1,000, 10,000 or 1,00,000) for a period of 1 to 10 years, and the fee depends on your annual turnover slab. As of September 2026, under GS1 India's fee structure effective 1 October 2025, a company with turnover up to ₹5 crore taking 100 barcodes for one year pays a ₹26,000 registration fee, a ₹12,250 annual subscription, ₹6,885 GST at 18% and a ₹3,000 refundable security deposit: ₹48,135 in total. The same company taking 1,000 barcodes pays ₹52,560 for the first year. Larger turnover slabs pay more; a company above ₹1,000 crore pays ₹85,187 for 100 barcodes. Renewal within 15 days of expiry carries no penalty. Registered micro manufacturing enterprises can claim 80% reimbursement of registration and annual fees for the first three years under the MSME barcode scheme. Fees are revised periodically, so check the GS1 India site before budgeting.
Each GTIN identifies one saleable unit: a different size, colour, pack count or formula needs its own number. A GTIN, once assigned, should never be reused for a different product.
Why it matters for sellers
Cheap "barcodes" sold online by resellers are often numbers from someone else's GS1 prefix. Amazon's listing checks and the platform gate scanners will flag these as belonging to another brand, which stalls listings and inwarding. A GTIN under your own company prefix also protects your listing: on Amazon, the brand tied to the GS1 record is a factor in who controls the detail page.
How to manage it
- Register with GS1 India under your own company name before you build any marketplace catalogue.
- Keep a master sheet of GTIN, SKU, MRP, dimensions and pack size; every platform will ask for it.
- Assign a fresh GTIN for every variant and a GTIN-14 for the case pack used on POs.
- Print the barcode at the recommended size and check it scans before the first production run.
- Renew the GS1 subscription on time; a lapsed prefix can be flagged during Amazon's periodic checks.
Blooprint's catalogue and listing optimisation service builds GTIN-ready master data for every marketplace. See also how to sell on Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart, where barcodes are a gate requirement.