The Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, and the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (PHARMEXCIL) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at facilitating legitimate pharmaceutical exports while strengthening safeguards against the diversion of controlled substances.

The MoU was signed and exchanged at the CBN Headquarters in Gwalior by Dr. Dinesh Bisen, Narcotics Commissioner, representing CBN, and K. Raja Bhanu, Director General, PHARMEXCIL.

India is a major global supplier of APIs, bulk drugs, formulations, biologics and medical devices, with the pharmaceutical industry's supply chain closely integrated with the chemical sector. The government said the shared ecosystem requires robust safeguards to ensure that controlled substances and chemical inputs used in legitimate pharmaceutical manufacturing are not diverted for illicit purposes.

CBN administers the regulatory and enforcement provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, including the regulation of licit opium poppy cultivation, authorisations for the import and export of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, and measures to prevent the diversion of essential precursor chemicals and other controlled substances.

The new framework with PHARMEXCIL is intended to strengthen collaboration between the regulator and the pharmaceutical export industry while supporting the government's broader Ease of Doing Business agenda. It will also promote voluntary compliance, greater awareness and industry participation in preventing diversion.

K. Raja Bhanu, Director General, PHARMEXCIL, said India's position as a leading supplier of medicines to more than 200 countries is built on trust among regulators, patients and government agencies.

"India today supplies medicines to more than two hundred Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are essential raw materials for our industry, used in anaesthesia and pain management, but we are equally conscious that diversion, even in small measure, can cause serious harm. 

“Through this MoU, PHARMEXCIL commits to act as a genuine industry interface for CBN disseminating regulatory advisories to our exporter members, mobilising their participation in awareness and training programmes, and building a culture of self-regulation that does not wait for enforcement to arrive at the factory gate,” said Bhanu.

“Our role remains facilitative, not regulatory. We bring reach into boardrooms and shop floors across the country, and the ability to make lawful compliance simpler and less intimidating. This partnership shows that trade facilitation and regulatory integrity are not competing goals, but complementary ones,” Bhanu concluded