Cancer drugs exempted from customs duty

Eight more drugs used for treatment of cancer and some other critical diseases have been included in the list of drugs fully exempted from customs duty and all anti-AIDs drugs exempted from excise duty.

Presenting the budgetary proposals for 2002-03 in Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said vaccine for immunisation against Japanese encephalitis shall also be exempt from customs duty.

All anti-Aids drugs would be exempted from excise duty from March 1, he said.

Pointing out that certain drugs that are presently exempted from customs duty are now made indigenously, Sinha also imposed a basic customs duty of 5 per cent on these drugs in order to provide reasonable incentives to the domestic manufacturers of these medicines.

Stating that India has a large number of diabetic patients and that they have to undergo frequent blood sugar tests, Sinha sought to reduce the customs duty on Glucometers and test strips from 25 per cent to 10 per cent. PTI

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