Government of India
Ministry of Finance
26-February-2016 17:13 IST
Subsequent to the withdrawal of the exemption/concessional customs duties, a Committee comprising of representatives of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Director General of Health Services, Department of Revenue, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, Central Drugs Standards Control Organization, National AIDS Control Programme and experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, was constituted in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to assess the impact of withdrawal of customs duties exemption/concession on the 76 drugs. Keeping in view the likely impact on the prices and availability of these drugs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recommended to restore exemption/concession of customs duties on three drugs, namely Octreotide; Somatropin; and Anti-Haemophilic factor concentrate VIII & IX. Accordingly, the exemption/concessional customs duties has been restored on these 3 drugs vide notification of the Government of India Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) No. 10/2016-Customs, dated the 17th February, 2016 [G.S.R. No. 177 (E) dated 17th February, 2016].
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.