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India cosmetic ingredient regulations

Cosmetics Rules and gazette updates are authoritative; some standards may require separate access.

Regulator: Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation
Source language: English and Hindi
Coverage version: Cosmetics Rules 2020 plus current BIS IS 4707 parts (1:2020, 2:2025, 3:2025, 4:2022)

What this list is

India regulates cosmetics under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act through the Cosmetics Rules 2020, and leans on BIS standards for composition. Imports additionally need registration before they may be sold.

1,931 Indian records: 1,614 prohibited, 317 restricted.
The regulator is the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
Imported cosmetics require CDSCO import registration, which is separate from any ingredient question.
BIS standards such as IS 4707 set composition requirements and are referenced by the Rules.

India's ingredient rules sit inside a wider approval structure, and the ingredient answer alone will not get a product to market. The Cosmetics Rules 2020, made under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, govern manufacture and import, and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation administers them. An imported cosmetic needs registration with CDSCO before it may be sold, regardless of how unremarkable its formula is.

Composition is handled partly by reference. The Bureau of Indian Standards publishes standards for cosmetic products and their ingredients — IS 4707 among them — and the Rules pull those in. That means a complete Indian answer can require reading a standard that is published separately from the Rules and is not always freely available.

One further point of difference: India prohibits the import and manufacture of cosmetics tested on animals, and prohibits certain substances outright such as hexachlorophene and mercury compounds. The 1,931 records below carry the status the Indian source gives them.

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1614 matching records

ProhibitedBinding ruleOriginal is EnglishOfficial-source import checked

Pitch, coal tar, high-temp., secondary (CAS No. 94114-13-3), if it contains >0.005 percent w/w benzo[a]pyrene

CAS 94114-13-3

IS 4707 Part 2:2025 Annex A lists this ingredient as one that must not form part of a cosmetic product in India.

Conditions: Must not form part of the composition of cosmetic products. Apply the general trace and safety notes published after Annex A.

Source:IS 4707 (Part 2):2025 Annex A, entry 615 · version IS 4707 (Part 2):2025, fifth revision · effective Aug. 9, 2025 · source checked 2026-08-31

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