Are steroid creams (Betnovate, Panderm, Skinlite) banned in India?

In India the steroid cream question has two halves. The first is the rule: on 23 Mar 2018 the Health Ministry notified the Drugs and Cosmetics (Second Amendment) Rules, adding 14 topical corticosteroids to Schedule H. From that date a cream containing betamethasone, clobetasol, mometasone, fluocinolone or any of the others may be sold only against a prescription. Nothing was banned; the change ended over-the-counter sale, which dermatologists had campaigned for after a decade of creams such as Betnovate and Panderm being used daily on the face for fairness.

The second half is enforcement and quality. Steroid creams are among the most sampled products in CDSCO's monthly 'not of standard quality' lists; betamethasone and clobetasol creams from small manufacturers appear most months, usually for assay or description. Separately, some fixed-dose combinations that paired a steroid with an antifungal and an antibiotic were included in the Section 26A bans of 2018 and 2024; those entries are on this site's banned drugs list. And state controllers act against fairness creams that hide a steroid: Telangana's January 2024 seizure of a cream with mometasone, hydroquinone and tretinoin is the example on record.

The mixtures that worry dermatologists most do not reach a lab at all. 'Dubai cream' and 'Cinderella cream', sold in parlours and small shops, are blends of Betnovate-type creams with other products, unlabelled and untested. They are not cosmetics, and the Schedule H rule gives a controller the power to seize them.