India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has extended the minimum import price (MIP) condition on glufosinate and its salts, a non-selective herbicide, until 12 April 2027. Notification No. 43/2026-27, dated 12 October 2026 and signed by Director General of Foreign Trade Lav Agarwal, keeps all other terms of the original order unchanged.

That order, Notification No. 10/2026-27 of 13 April 2026, restricted imports of glufosinate and its salts where the combined CIF value and anti-dumping duty, if any, calculated per kilogram, is less than INR 1,154 per kg. It applied for six months from publication and covers eight HS codes in Chapter 38 of Schedule I (Import Policy) of ITC (HS) 2022: 38089193, 38089199, 38089361, 38089391, 38089399, 38089912, 38089991 and 38089999. Both notifications were issued under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, with the approval of the Minister of Commerce and Industry. Neither gives a reason for the measure.

How the floor has changed

DGFT first set a price condition on the chemical in Notification No. 58/2023, dated 23 January 2024, which made imports of glufosinate technical of at least 95% purity under HS code 38089390 prohibited below a CIF value of Rs 1,289 per kg from 25 January 2024, with a review after one year. Notification No. 54/2024-25 of 24 January 2025 extended the condition to 23 January 2026 and changed the status below Rs 1,289 per kg from prohibited to restricted.

The April 2026 order lowered the headline threshold to INR 1,154 per kg but counts any anti-dumping duty towards it and spreads the condition across eight HS codes instead of one.

Registration rules unchanged

The price floor sits alongside the registration regime for pesticides. The April notification restates that imports under the relevant code are subject to a certificate of registration issued by the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIB&RC) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and to non-prohibition for import under the Insecticides Act, 1968. The notifications deal only with import conditions and do not alter product registrations.

TAD’s reading

  • Domestic technical makers: Six more months of a floor that includes anti-dumping duty keeps low-priced imported technical out through the rabi season and into the next kharif.
  • Formulators: Companies that buy imported technical to make finished glufosinate products face a floor on landed cost until at least April 2027.
  • Importers: Because duty paid counts towards the floor, the effect on any given shipment depends on the duty that applies to that supplier.
  • Policy: Successive extensions since January 2024 suggest the MIP has become a standing tool; the next decision point is 12 April 2027.