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The notification adds Policy Condition No. 08 to the ITC (HS) 2022 Schedule-I entries covering diluted Potassium Clavulanate, Potassium Clavulanate (KGA), and named clavulanic-acid-manufacture intermediates (multiple ITC codes under Chapter 29, including 29161930, 29163930 and related lines). Any consignment with a declared CIF invoice value below the stated per-kilogram threshold is reclassified from "Free" to "Restricted" import status, meaning the importer must obtain a DGFT Regional Authority licence before Customs clearance — functionally a price-floor gate rather than a tariff. Above-threshold imports continue to clear freely. The measure runs from 18 December 2025 to 30 November 2026, the same expiry date used on the sibling DGFT MIP action targeting penicillin/6-APA/amoxycillin (2026-01-29-india-dgft-mip-penicillin-6-apa-amoxycillin), suggesting a coordinated Chapter 29 review cycle rather than a one-off measure.
Clavulanic acid (marketed as potassium clavulanate) is the beta-lactamase inhibitor combined with amoxicillin in the world's most widely used antibiotic combination (co-amoxiclav / Augmentin-type formulations). Global potassium-clavulanate supply is dominated by China (Shandong New Times) and India (Aurobindo Pharma), which together account for roughly three-quarters of global exports of the finished amoxicillin-clavulanate combination. Industry reporting describes a 2024-25 global oversupply that pushed spot prices down sharply, with Chinese fermentation-scale producers able to sell below Indian producers' cost base. This notification is the same policy instrument — a DGFT Chapter 29 CIF price floor rather than a formal DGTR anti-dumping investigation — used six weeks later for penicillin G, amoxycillin and 6-APA, and sits alongside India's PLI Bulk Drugs scheme (2020-07-21-india-pli-bulk-drugs-ksm-di-api) as the import-protection half of a build-then-shield strategy for domestic antibiotic-API capacity.
tariff or blanket import ban.
with India's pattern of using MIP as a reversible pressure tool rather than a permanent barrier.
formulation manufacturers' access to competitively priced imported clavulanate for re-export production.
the DGFT set close to prevailing depressed Chinese export prices, so above-threshold Chinese supply can still clear — this is a floor against the most aggressive under-pricing, not a full market-access bar.
India's largest potassium-clavulanate/amoxicillin-clavulanate producer; the price floor removes the steepest Chinese underpricing pressure on its fermentation economics.
access to the sub-threshold segment of the Indian market, though above-floor exports remain permitted.
exemptions, preserving cost-competitive sourcing for export production of finished co-amoxiclav formulations.
a formal DGTR anti-dumping investigation, as it has done for other China-sourced chemical inputs (see 2025-02-12-india-dgtr-titanium-dioxide-china-antidumping-final).
recover from the 2024-25 oversupply trough, which would test whether the floor is calibrated to protect margin or merely block loss-leading dumping.
CIF invoice values against related-party or under-invoiced transactions.