Mint explainer: why is India opening new entry gateways for medicines and medical devices?

Summary

India plans to add dry ports, a special economic zone and an airport to its authorized entry points for medical imports, bringing clearances closer to manufacturing hubs and markets.

India is expanding the number of designated entry points for medicines, medical devices and cosmetics to make imports faster and cheaper. The Union health ministry has proposed adding inland container depots, a special economic zone and an upcoming international airport to its list of authorized clearance points.

The move is aimed at reducing domestic transit delays, bringing clearance hubs closer to manufacturing centres and ensuring medical goods reach hospitals and factories without unnecessary hold-ups. Mint explains:

What is changing in India's import rules?

Under Indian drug rules, medicines, diagnostics and cosmetics can enter the country only through designated ports, airports, rail links and land border posts. The Union health ministry has issued a draft gazette notification proposing an expansion of this list.

The proposal adds eight inland container depots (dry ports that process containerised sea cargo inland), one special economic zone and one international airport. The government has invited comments from drugmakers, medical-device importers and the public within 30 days, before the rules are formally notified.

Which new cities and hubs are being added?

The proposed rules add cargo-clearance locations across several states.

Haryana: Dry ports at Sonipat, Piyala and Harsaru.

Uttar Pradesh: The Dadri dry port and Noida International Airport for air freight.

Gujarat: Gandhidham and Mundra.

Telangana: Sanath Nagar and Thimmapur in Hyderabad.

Karnataka: Whitefield and the Bommasandra Special Economic Zone in Bengaluru.

These hubs will join existing authorised entry points, including major airports and the dry ports at Dhannad and Tihi near Indore.

How will the new gateways ease transport bottlenecks?

Currently, companies importing healthcare products often have to clear shipments at coastal ports or distant metro airports, even when their factories are hundreds of kilometres inland. This can mean long road journeys, higher domestic trucking costs and substantial storage charges when shipments are held up at ports.

The proposed dry ports are located closer to major manufacturing clusters. Hyderabad's hubs can serve local active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and formulation units, while Bengaluru's sites connect with medical technology and biotech plants. Dadri, Sonipat, Piyala, Harsaru and Noida together form a clearance network across the Delhi-NCR region.

Allowing goods to be cleared closer to their destination could reduce freight costs, ease dependence on congested coastal ports and help keep production lines running.

What does this mean for patients and medicine supplies?

Relying on a small number of coastal ports makes healthcare supplies vulnerable to disruptions caused by bad weather, labour action and terminal congestion. Delays at entry points can affect hospital inventories, including diagnostic kits and urgent therapies.

Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator at the All India Medical Device Association (AiMeD), said, "By expanding authorised import gateways, the government is addressing critical logistics and regulatory bottlenecks while promoting efficiency, competitiveness, and timely access to healthcare products. We hope these also allow export access too. Strong controls are necessary, but excessive or duplicative processes can undermine the very efficiencies this initiative seeks to achieve. Smart regulation, rather than more regulation, should be the objective."

If India is the 'pharmacy of the world', why does it still import medicines?

India is a leading exporter of generic formulations, but its domestic pharmaceutical industry remains dependent on imported raw materials. Drugmakers source key starting materials, chemical intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients from overseas suppliers. These include fermentation-based inputs used to manufacture important antibiotics.

India also imports advanced finished therapies that are largely produced overseas. These include patented cancer medicines, drugs for rare diseases and complex biologics such as monoclonal antibodies. The healthcare system also depends on imported high-end medical technology, including diagnostic reagents, imaging equipment and surgical implants.

Expanding the number of authorized entry points could make the movement of these imported products and inputs more efficient, even as India continues to build domestic manufacturing capacity.