Budget 2025: 36 life saving drugs, medicines now fully exempt from custom duty

Budget 2025: 36 life saving drugs, medicines now fully exempt from custom duty

As many as 36 life saving drugs will now be fully exempted from customs duty, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced, presenting the Union Budget 2025 on Saturday (February 1, 2025)

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“To provide relief to patients, particularly those suffering from cancer, rare diseases, and other severe chronic diseases, I propose to add 36 life saving drugs and medicines to the list of medicines fully exempted from basic custom duty (BCD). I also propose to add six life saving medicines to the list attracting concessional customs duty of 5%. Full exemption and concessional duty will also respectively apply on the bulk drugs for manufacture of the above,” she said.

“Specified drugs and medicines under patient assistance programs, run by the pharmaceutical companies, are fully exempt from BCD, provided the medicines are supplied free of cost to the patients. I propose to add 37 more medicines along with 13 new patient management programs,” she added.