Import of Covid treatment Drugs for personal use - R R Padmanabhan, Director - Exim Academy

Import of Covid treatment Drugs for personal use

We are passing through perhaps the worst phase of human history. Fortunately, what was not available to the human kind in the earlier era namely communication and transportation are available to us now. In this blog, I explore the procedural formalities to be gone through if one has to source medicines needed to Covid 19 treatment customs duty free for individual use.

The Government of India issued two notifications namely 27 and 28 of 2021 putting out the medicines and equipments required for Covid treatment. The notifications are general in nature meaning the importers could be both individuals as well as enterprises. What are these medicines? The following is the list: 

Notification No. 27


Notification No 28

Since one is importing drugs, procedure relating to Drugs import also has to be observed in terms of Drugs and Cosmetics Act. This is different from customs clearance procedure. If you are an individual importing the drugs or you are importing on behalf of a patient, you will have to obtain approval in Form 12B. It is a simple procedure. Ensure that you have the details of the patient like Aadhaar etc. while applying. After application on line, you get the approval. There is not manual intervention. 

Now for the customs procedure: 

In terms of above two notifications, basic customs duty is free but IGST  at 12% of the value of drugs is payable.  Under normal circumstance, an importer must have an Import Export Code (IEC) No to import.  Since you are an individual, you may not have.  But it is permissible in terms of relevant provision in Foreign Trade Policy as the import is by an individual for personal use. 

The Customs duty exemption is available till 31st October 2021.

Image Courtesy: www.livemart.com

R R Padmanabhan

Director - Exim Academy



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