Government lifts export ban on anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday freed the export of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine with immediate effect.

India, on March 25, imposed a ban on the export of Hydroxychloroquine and its formulations, in a bid to ensure its availability in the domestic market due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DFFT) in a notification said that it has amended the export policy of Hydroxychloroquine API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and its formulations "from prohibited to free with immediate effect".


Though the exports was banned till now, India had supplied paracetamol and hydroxychloroquine to over 120 countries, with 40 of them being given the medicines free.