Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 56/2025-26 on 29 January 2026, amending the import policy under Chapter 29 of ITC (HS) 2022 to impose minimum import prices (MIPs) on three antibiotic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs): Penicillin G-potassium (₹2,216/kg CIF), Amoxycillin trihydrate (₹2,733/kg CIF), and 6-Aminopenicillanic Acid/6-APA (₹3,405/kg CIF). Imports below these price floors are reclassified from "Free" to "Restricted" status, requiring a DGFT import authorisation before Customs clearance. The measure takes immediate effect and is valid for approximately ten months (until 30 November 2026), with an implied renewal pathway. It is explicitly aimed at preventing very-low-priced imports and supporting domestic manufacturers built under the PLI Bulk Drugs scheme, targeting China's dominant position in global antibiotic-fermentation supply.

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 50/2025-26 on 18 December 2025 (Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3(ii)), inserting a new Policy Condition No. 08 under Chapter 29 of ITC (HS) 2022, Schedule-I (Import Policy). Imports of diluted Potassium Clavulanate below a CIF value of USD 77/kg, Potassium Clavulanate (KGA) below USD 180/kg, and specified clavulanic-acid-manufacture intermediates below USD 92/kg are reclassified from "Free" to "Restricted," requiring a DGFT import authorisation before Customs clearance. The measure took immediate effect and runs until 30 November 2026. It is aimed at countering low-priced Chinese potassium-clavulanate exports and protecting Indian bulk-drug fermentation capacity (Aurobindo Pharma and other domestic API makers) amid a global potassium-clavulanate supply glut.

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 41/2025-26 on 10 October 2025, inserting a new import policy condition under Chapter 29 of ITC (HS) 2022, Schedule-I (Import Policy) for Sulfadiazine API (ITC-HS codes 29359013 and 29359090). Imports with a declared CIF value below Rs. 1,774 per kilogram are reclassified from "Free" to "Restricted," requiring a DGFT import authorisation before Customs clearance. The measure took immediate effect and runs until 30 September 2026, aimed at curbing low-priced imports — Global Trade Alert records China, France and Israel among the affected exporters — while protecting domestic API manufacturers.

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 30/2025-26 on 18 September 2025, inserting a new import policy condition under Chapter 29 of ITC (HS) 2022, Schedule-I (Import Policy) for ATS-8 — (4R-Cis)-1,1-Dimethylethyl-6- cyanomethyl-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-4-acetate (HS 2932.99), the key synthesis intermediate for Atorvastatin, a National List of Essential Medicines cholesterol-lowering statin API. Imports with a declared CIF value below USD 111/kg are reclassified from "Free" to "Restricted," requiring a DGFT import authorisation before Customs clearance. The measure took immediate effect and runs until 30 September 2026. Global Trade Alert records China, Argentina and Canada among the affected exporters; global merchant-market ATS-8 supply is concentrated among Chinese producers.

On 1 February 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the National Manufacturing Mission (NMM) in the Union Budget 2025-26 as a horizontal umbrella framework extending the 2014 "Make in India" architecture across small, medium and large industries. The mission rests on five focal areas: (i) ease and cost of doing business; (ii) a future-ready workforce for in-demand jobs; (iii) a vibrant and dynamic MSME sector; (iv) availability of technology; and (v) quality manufacturing. It will deliver policy support, execution roadmaps, and a governance/monitoring framework binding central ministries with states. NMM specifically commits to building a clean-tech manufacturing ecosystem with explicit coverage of solar PV cells, EV batteries, motors and controllers, electrolysers, wind turbines, very-high-voltage transmission equipment, and grid-scale batteries — i.e., the full hardware stack for India's Panchamrit (500 GW non-fossil by 2030), FAME-III EV ramp, and National Green Hydrogen Mission. NMM is the first horizontal Indian manufacturing-mission instrument in the IPTM register; existing IND entries are sector-specific PLIs (electronics, batteries, steel, semiconductors) and the National Critical Mineral Mission. Operational rollout flows through subsequent Cabinet-level scheme approvals (e.g. Biopharma SHAKTI ₹10,000 cr, Chemical Parks ₹600 cr in BE 2026-27); the mission itself does not carry a single headline outlay because it is the framework rather than an instrument.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals notified the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Manufacturing of Critical Key Starting Materials (KSMs), Drug Intermediates (DIs) and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) on 21 July 2020 via Gazette Notification, with an outlay of Rs 6,940 crore (~USD 920m) over FY 2020-21 to FY 2027-28. The scheme covers 41 identified critical bulk-drug products across four target segments — fermentation-based (Key Fermentation; Niche Fermentation) and chemical synthesis-based (Key Chemical Synthesis; Niche Chemical Synthesis) — paying 20% incentive on incremental sales for fermentation-based products (years 1-4) tapering to 15% (year 5) and 5% (year 6), and a flat 20% over 5 years for chemically-synthesised products. The stated objective is to reduce India's ~70% bulk-drug import dependence on China by establishing greenfield domestic manufacturing capacity with at least 90% domestic value addition for fermentation products and 70% for chemical-synthesis products.