Budget 2026: Duty waiver on 17 cancer drugs to cut treatment costs

cancer

• Budget 2026–27 exempts basic customs duty on 17 imported cancer drugs
• Seven more rare diseases added for duty-free import of treatments and FSMPs
• Move aims to lower cancer therapy costs and expand access to advanced medicines

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The Budget 2026–27 has exempted 17 cancer drugs from basic customs duty, a move that will sharply reduce treatment costs for some of the most expensive therapies.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the step was intended “to provide relief to patients, particularly those suffering from cancer”, adding the exemption would cover advanced oncology medicines, which are mostly imported and prohibitively expensive.

The list, yet to published in full, possibly includes targeted therapies, immunotherapies and even a CAR‑T cell therapy, signalling a major intervention to improve affordability of cutting‑edge cancer care.

Analysts expect the list to cover medications such as ribociclib, abemaciclib, talycabtagene autoleucel, tremelimumab, venetoclax, ceritinib, crigatinib, and darolutamide, used widely in the treatment of breast, lung and prostate cancer and leukemias, lymphomas, melanoma and other difficult‑to‑treat malignancies.

Most of these therapies are marketed globally by multinational innovators, including Novartis, Eli Lilly AstraZeneca, AbbVie, Roche, Takeda, Bayer and Bristol Myers Squibb.

"By easing duty-related barriers, the Budget helps create an environment where scientific progress can reach patients more effectively," said Amitabh Dube, country president and managing director, Novartis India

"It strengthens the broader ecosystem required to bring complex, high-value therapies closer to those who need them," Dube added.

"The exemption of Basic Customs Duty on 17 drugs and medicines and the addition of seven rare diseases under import duty exemption for personal medical use, will help improve access to critical therapies," said Shweta Rai, Managing Director, India and Country Division Head – South Asia, Bayer Pharmaceuticals.

The Budget also proposes to add seven additional rare diseases to the list of for exemption from import duties on personal imports of drugs, medicines and Foods for Special Medical Purposes (FSMPs) used in their treatment.

The measure expands on earlier Budget decisions that had brought life‑saving therapies for conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Pompe disease and Gaucher disease into the duty‑free regime on compassionate grounds. The government has indicated that the expanded list will cover more ultra‑rare metabolic and genetic disorders the treatment of which can cost several crores annually, These drugs are often imported on a named‑patient basis.

This year’s announcements build on two years of progressive duty rationalisation in the life‑saving drugs category. The 2024–25 budget exempted trastuzumab deruxtecan, osimertinib and durvalumab, followed by the addition of 36 medicines, including 12 cancer drugs, in 2025–26, such as asciminib and daratumumab.

The 2026–27 measures further broaden the scope to encompass an even wider spectrum of sophisticated oncology treatments, many of which belong to the fastest‑growing segments of global cancer care—targeted therapies, checkpoint inhibitors and precision medicines.

Industry experts say the decision could significantly lower out‑of‑pocket burdens for families, given that India’s health insurance coverage for high‑end oncology biologics and personalised medicines remains limited.

Hospitals and cancer care networks are expected to benefit as cost reductions could encourage earlier adoption of certain therapies.

Multinational drugmakers may see growth in patient numbers as the price barrier eases on imported therapies.