About DGFT

• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) organisation is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is headquartered in New Delhi.
• This Directorate is responsible for formulating and implementing the Foreign Trade Policy with the main objective of promoting India’s exports.

Why in News?

• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has removed the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of paracetamol (common fever medication) out of the ‘restricted for export’ list. It means the export of the API of paracetamol from the country will be resumed.
• More than two months ago, the raw material of the paracetamol as well as 12 other APIs and formulations made from them were not allowed to be exported by the government amid the COVID-19 outbreak, fears of disruption in supplies from China and a drug shortage.
• Paracetamol API was the lone item that remained in the list when the government in April first permitted export of the other 12 APIs and their formulations and thereafter, by another notification, also allowed export of formulations made from Paracetamol.

What are active pharmaceutical ingredients?

• APIs refer to the biologically active component of a drug product.
• Such substances are intended to furnish pharmacological activity or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or function of the body.
• Drug products are usually composed of several components.
• The aforementioned API is the primary ingredient. Other ingredients are commonly known as “excipients.”
• The procedure for optimizing and compositing this mixture of components used in the drug is known as “formulation“.