Mercury in cosmetics: India's 1 ppm limit

India's mercury rule for cosmetics has two numbers. Eye-area products may contain up to 70 parts per million of mercury as a preservative, a historic allowance for mascaras where no alternative preserved the product. Every other finished cosmetic may contain mercury only as an unintentional trace, not more than 1 ppm. The limits were set by G.S.R. 56(E) on 19 Jan 2017, amending rules 135-A and 145-D of the 1945 rules, and now sit in Rule 39(5) of the Cosmetics Rules 2020.

The 1 ppm figure is the Minamata Convention's threshold. The convention, which India ratified in 2018, requires parties to stop the manufacture, import and export of cosmetics with mercury above 1 ppm; India asked for more time and in July 2025 the Drugs Controller General was reported to be preparing a ban on the manufacture, sale and import of any cosmetic above that level. No draft notification has been published.

Enforcement has been by lab test. Since 2024 state laboratories have reported mercury failures in a Telangana-marketed cream (Vcare Derma Essence), in Pakistani imports (Goree, Faiza, Sandal and the twelve products on Maharashtra's 2026 lists), in single batches of three Indian brands (Dabur Fem bleach, Mamaearth Vitamin C cream, Ahaglow face wash) and in three lipsticks. The medical consequence, documented in Maharashtra in 2026, is kidney and nerve damage after months of daily use.