India DGFT Notification No. 26/2025-26 — Minimum Import Price and PIMS Registration on Virgin Multi-layer Paper Board

Mechanism

Notification No. 26/2025-26 inserts a new import policy condition (policy condition 04 of Chapter 48) against five ITC-HS codes covering Virgin Multi-layer Paper Board: 48059100, 48059200, 48059300, 48109200 and 48109900. Imports stay classified "Free" in the tariff schedule but must now be registered under the Paper Import Monitoring System (PIMS) before shipment, and any consignment with a declared CIF invoice value below INR 67,220 per metric tonne is reclassified "Restricted," requiring a DGFT Regional Authority import licence before Customs clearance. A follow-up Policy Circular No. 04/2025-26 (3 September 2025) clarified the EOU/SEZ and Advance Authorisation/DFIA carve-outs listed above. This is a CIF price-floor plus import-monitoring gate — structurally identical to the Chapter 29 bulk-drug MIP instrument DGFT later used for Sulfadiazine API (2025-10-10-india-dgft-mip-sulfadiazine-api) and ATS-8 (2025-09-18-india-dgft-mip-ats-8-atorvastatin-intermediate), applied here to the paper/packaging sector instead of pharmaceuticals.

Strategic context

Virgin multi-layer paperboard is a key packaging-grade input (folding cartons, liquid-packaging board) where China, Brazil and Chile are established low-cost exporters to India. PIMS mirrors the registration architecture DGFT already runs for steel (SIMS) and solar/wind components (2025-11-01-india-dgft-reeims-solar-wind-import-registration) — a real-time import-tracking layer that precedes, and often justifies, a subsequent formal DGTR anti-dumping case if the price floor proves insufficient to stem low-priced volumes.

Why severity 2

• Narrow product scope: five related HS codes within one paperboard grade,

not a sectoral tariff or blanket ban.

• Imports remain legally "Free"; the MIP only restricts sub-threshold

invoice values, and EOU/SEZ/Advance Authorisation/DFIA users are fully exempt.

• Quantified via a disclosed CIF threshold (INR 67,220/MT = severity_basis:

quant), anchoring the measure to a specific, auditable price floor.

• Repeated administrative extension (twice, now through 30 September 2026)

signals a persistent but still reversible protective instrument rather than an escalating one.

Downstream implications

• Indian paperboard manufacturers. Gain a price floor against

sub-threshold Chinese, Brazilian and Chilean cartonboard, similar to the protection SIMS/PIMS-style registration already provides steel and solar producers.

• Chinese, Brazilian and Chilean exporters (per GTA state-act 94085).

Lose access to the sub-threshold segment of the Indian packaging-board market; above-floor exports and EOU/SEZ-bound shipments remain unaffected.

• Indian packaging converters and FMCG brand owners. Face a modest input

cost floor on virgin multi-layer board sourced below INR 67,220/MT, though Advance Authorisation/DFIA exemptions protect export-oriented converters.

Open questions

• Whether DGFT renews the MIP again past 30 September 2026 or escalates to a

formal DGTR anti-dumping investigation, as has occurred in other Chapter 29/48 MIP cases.

• The scale of Indian domestic virgin-multi-layer-paperboard capacity and

which specific manufacturers lobbied for the measure (not disclosed in available sources).

• Whether PIMS registration volumes (not yet published) show the MIP has

materially reduced Chinese/Brazilian/Chilean import volumes or merely shifted sourcing to above-floor grades.