Regulations and Procedures

All imports now fall into one of the following four categories:

freely importable items; Most capital goods fall into this category. Items in this category do not require import licences and may be freely imported by any individual or entity.
licensed imports; Certain items can be imported only with licences and only by actual users. The current "negative list" of items in this category includes several broad product groups that are classified as consumer goods; precious and semi-precious stones; products related to safety and security; seeds, plants and animals; some insecticides, pharmaceuticals and chemicals; some electronical items; several items reserved for production by the small-scale sector; and 17 miscellaneous or special-category items. In April 1993 the government ended licensing requirements for several agricultural items, including prawns, shrimp and poultry feed.
canalised items; Items under this category can be imported only by specified public-sector agencies. These include petroleum products (to be imported only by the Indian Oil Corporation); nitrogenous phosphatic, potassic and complex chemical fertilizers (by the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation) vitamin- A drugs (by the State Trading Corporation); oils and seeds (by the State Trading Corporation and Hindustan Vegetable Oils); and cereals (by the Food Corporation of India).
prohibited items; Only three items-tallow fat, animal rennet and unprocessed ivory-are completely banned from importation.