The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has notified amendments to ITC (HS), 2022—Schedule-I (Import Policy) to bring India’s import classification framework in sync with the Finance Act, 2026 dated 30 March 2026.
The amendments have been issued through DGFT’s Notification No. 24/2026-27 dated 22 July 2026. The notification has been issued in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 3, read with Section 5, of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, and paragraphs 1.02 and 2.01 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023.
Under the notification, several ITC (HS) codes and their corresponding import-policy entries have been inserted, deleted, amended, split or merged to reflect the tariff and classification changes introduced through the Finance Act, 2026. The detailed code-wise amendments and applicable policy conditions are provided in Annexure-I to the notification.
The rationalisation covers a wide range of products, including agricultural and food products, plant extracts, beverage preparations, minerals, chemicals, pharmaceutical and controlled substances, hides and skins, wood pulp, iron and steel pipes, machinery components, filtration products, battery separators and transport containers.
Among the agricultural and food-related changes, separate classifications have been provided for products such as krill, pecan nuts, cranberries, blueberries, shea nuts and certain cranberry-based preparations and beverages. Existing broader entries have, in several cases, been deleted and replaced by more specific product-level classifications, with the import policy generally indicated as “Free”.
The notification also introduces more detailed classifications for various plant extracts and chemical products, including extracts derived from medicinal and botanical sources, cashew shell liquid products, phenylacetic acid, malonic acid and its derivatives, anthranilic acid, certain chemical intermediates and other specialised compounds.
Specific policy conditions continue to apply to sensitive substances. Imports of pseudoephedrine and norephedrine and their respective categories remain subject to Policy Condition No. 3 of the relevant chapter. Imports of lysergic acid and related entries require a No Objection Certificate from the Narcotics Commissioner of India, Gwalior, as specified in the notification.
The amendments further rationalise classifications relating to wet-blue hides and skins, dissolving-grade chemical wood pulp and non-galvanised iron pipes. Several broad or overlapping entries have been replaced with distinct classifications based on product composition, treatment, use or material specifications.
New or revised entries have also been incorporated for products such as parts of specified machinery, split-system air-conditioning units, reverse-osmosis membrane elements for household filters, battery separators and containers specially designed for carriage by one or more modes of transport, including refrigerated containers.
In addition to the code-wise changes contained in Annexure-I, Annexure-II revises the descriptions of six ITC (HS) entries. These include codes relating to ethoxy methylene malonate, N-Phenethyl-4-piperidone and specified categories of non-galvanised iron pipes.
The updated ITC (HS), 2022—Schedule-I (Import Policy) will be made available on the official website of the DGFT. The amendments notified through Notification No. 24/2026-27 have come into force with immediate effect.
The Notification can be accessed at: https://a2ztaxcorp.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Noti-no.-24-E.pdf
