Govt moves to curb cheap penicillin-based drug imports for 1 year

Centre imposes one-year minimum import price on key penicillin inputs to check Chinese dumping and protect domestic bulk drug manufacturing

The Centre on Thursday amended its import policy by notifying minimum import price (MIP) curbs for certain key pharmaceutical inputs to combat aggressive undercutting and dumping by Chinese manufacturers.

 

In a notification dated January 29, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) introduced a minimum import price (MIP) on important bulk drugs such as Penicillin G potassium (Pen-G), Amoxicillin Trihydrate and 6-APA for a period of one year.

 

The notification stated that imports of Pen-G and its salts having a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value of less than Rs 2,216 per kg will be classified as “restricted”. Pen-G is the backbone for widely used antibiotics such as amoxicillin and ampicillin, critical to India’s primary healthcare system.

 

Imports above this threshold will continue to remain under the “free” category, subject to registration and other requirements administered by the Drug Controller General of India under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

 

Similarly, imports of Amoxicillin Trihydrate and its salts will be restricted if the CIF value is below Rs 2,733 per kg. Imports of 6-APA will face restrictions if the CIF value is less than Rs 3,405 per kg.

 

The notification, however, clarified that the MIP conditions will not apply to imports made by 100 per cent export-oriented units (EOUs), units operating in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), or imports under the Advance Authorisation Scheme, provided the imported inputs are not sold in the Domestic Tariff Area.

 

The MIPs come at a time when several pharmaceutical bodies have expressed concerns over sustained predatory pricing and a sharp decline in import prices by Chinese firms, indicating an imminent threat to the viability of domestic manufacturing.

 

For decades, India has depended almost entirely on imports, primarily from China, for these fermentation-based inputs.

 

The government had introduced a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to reverse this structural vulnerability and restore local manufacturing of essential bulk drugs.

 

However, Chinese manufacturers began cutting prices even further, putting at risk huge investments made by PLI beneficiaries.