Last updated: December 13th, 2022 2:16 PM

Prohibited Items for Import in India

Each year, several countries import billions of products into India by air, sea, and road. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade controls all imports and export into India, and Importer Exporter Code (IEC) from the DGFT is required for all importers or exporters. DGFT has published a list of prohibited items for import in India. Articles on this list cannot be imported into India under any circumstance. Therefore, all those involved in the import-export business must be aware of this list.

List of items prohibited for import into India:

1. Other meat and edible meat offal, fresh, chilled, or frozen of wild animals.
2. Pig fat, free of lean meat and poultry fat, not rendered or otherwise extracted, fresh, chilled, frozen, salted, in brine, dried or smoked.
3. Edible products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included of Wild animals.
4. Guts of other animals for natural food casings of wild animals.
5. Guts other than for natural food castings of wild animals.
6. Bladders & stomachs of Wild animals.
7. Feathers of a kind used for stuffing; down wild birds.
8. Other feathers (excluding for stuffing purposes): of wild birds.
9. Powder and waste of feathers or parts of feathers: of wild birds.
10. Skins and other parts: of wild birds.
11. Bones, including horn cores, crushed: by wild animals.
12. Bone grist: of wild animals.
13. Ossein: of wild animals.
14. Bones, horn cones & parts thereof, not crushed: of wild animals.
15. Bone meal of wild animals.
16. Other: wild animals Not permitted to be imported.
17. Ivory.
18. Ivory powder and waste.
19. Ambergris, castoreum, civet, and musk; cantharides; bile, whether or not dried; glands of wild animals.
20. Fish nails.
21. Fishtails.
22. Other fish waste.
23. Sinews and tendons of wildlife.
24. Frozen semen is other than the bovine embryo of wildlife.
25. Pig Fats (including Lard) and Poultry fat, other than Heading 0209 or 1503.
26. Mutton Tallow.
27. Fats, unrendered (excluding Mutton Tallow).
28. Rendered or solvent extraction fats.
29. Other Fats of Bovine animals, Sheep or Goats, other than those of Heading 1503.
30. Lard Stearin, Lard Oil, Oleostearin, Oleo-Oil, and Tallow Oil, not emulsified or mixed, or otherwise prepared.
31. Other Fats and Oils and their fractions of fish or marine mammals, whether or not refined but not chemically modified.
32. Sperm Oil Not.
33. Other fats and oils and their fractions of fish, other than liver oils.
34. Fats and Oils and their fractions of marine mammals.
35. Neats Foot oil and fats from bone or waste.
36. Other animal fats and oils and their fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified.
37. Animal fats and oils and their fractions.
38. Margarine of Animal Origin.
39. Imitation lard of animal origin.
40. Animal or Vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, boiled, oxidized, dehydrated, sulphurised, blown, polymerized by heat in vacuum or inert gas or otherwise chemically modified, excluding those of heading 1516.
41. Inedible mixtures or preparations of animal or vegetable fats or oils.
42. Degras.
43. Soap Stocks.
44. Microbial rennet: Animal rennet.
45. Other enzymes; prepared enzymes not elsewhere specified or included.
46. Animal rennet.
47. Other animal rennet.
48. Tiger-Cat skins.
49. Articles of apparel and clothing accessories of wild animals covered under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.
50. Other articles on the fur skin of wild animals are covered under Wild Life Protection Act 1972.
51. Telephone sets, including telephones for cellular networks or other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images, or other data, including devices for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or vast area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528. (i) Import of ‘Mobile Handsets’ (classified under ITC (HS) Code ‘8517’) without International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) No. Or, with all Zeroes, IMEI is prohibited.
52. Import of ‘CDMA mobile phones’ (classified under ITC (HS) Code ‘8517’) without Electronic Serial Number (ESN) / Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID) or with all Zeroes as ESN / MEID is prohibited.
53. Worked ivory and articles of ivory were Not permitted to be imported.

Note: This list is based on Schedule 1 of ITC(HS) Classifications of Export & Import Items and updated as of 14th August 2015, which is also available in the below link. Before importing goods into India, importers are requested to verify the most current list of items prohibited for import into India before importing on the DGFT website.

Types of goods cannot be sent as gifts or commercial samples through couriers.

All types of goods banned under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, are banned for import into India, even as gifts or commercial samples. Example of such goods is wild animals, wild birds or parts of wild animals and birds, narcotic drugs like opium,  marijuana, and ivory, and arms like revolvers or pistols, or other handguns and ammunition.

Procedure to send magazines/books containing maps of India

It is not possible for the ordinary sender to know whether the magazines or books containing the map correctly show the boundary of India or not. It is, therefore, safe to stamp or write across the map(s) that this map may not show the correct boundary of India.

Sending jewelry to any manufacturer in India as a sample

Gold jewelry or studded jewelry, including samples thereof, cannot be imported or sent to ordinary persons in India through a courier route. However, the units in export processing zones or Export Oriented Units can import gems and jewelry, including samples thereof, through an authorized courier. However, the jewelry and its samples can be exported by all units through the courier.