The government has decided to review the decision of mandatory registration for bulk drug importers.

Officials of the commerce and health ministries would meet on May 20 to consider the pharmaceutical industry's demand, director-general of foreign trade Labanyendu Mansingh said at an open house with exporters organised by Chemexcil in New Delhi on Thursday.

Exporters are demanding that registration of suppliers should not be mandatory for products, which are to be further exported, because it increased costs and affected competitiveness of products.

The government had introduced the registration norms from April this year, based on practices in the US, and warned that country should be ready to face high prices from registered suppliers.

"The government's decision is impractical, especially for people who are exporting bulk drugs after processing some imported drugs," said BK Bhuwania, president and chief executive officer of Coral Drugs Pvt Ltd, an exporter of bulk formulations for cancer drugs.

Representatives of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association had also met DGFT officials earlier this week to press for the removal of registration requirements.

Bulk drug suppliers have to register themselves for their product for import and use in India, according to a government notification.

Stating that some suppliers were merely traders and not manufacturers and it was difficult for them to get registered, exporters suggested that the government could control movement of imports for exports bringing advance licences.

Exporters also said traders, who were supplying small quantities would not be keen on registration and they would be either forced to stop exports of particular products or switch to those registered and charging premium, reducing the competitiveness of their products.