Fact-check
Is Goree cream banned in India?
Last checked 10 October 2026
Yes in effect: Goree Beauty Cream has no import registration, all imports from Pakistan have been barred since 2 May 2025, CDSCO issued a public health alert on 8 Sep 2026 directing every enforcement unit to stop its sale for heavy metals above the limits, and Maharashtra had already stopped its sale on 4 Jul 2026; there is no gazette 'ban notification' because none is needed for an unregistered import.
- Classification
- Regulatory notice or advisory
- Decided by
- CDSCO (cosmetics division); Maharashtra FDA; Kerala Drugs Control
- Reference
- CDSCO public health alert, File COS-11012/07/2026, 8 Sep 2026; Maharashtra FDA alert of 4 Jul 2026; DGFT Notification 06/2025-26
- Latest action
- 8 September 2026
- Last checked
- 10 October 2026
Photo: Woman applying cream to hand.jpg by Moose Photos (CC0). All photo credits.
DGFT Notification 06/2025-26: prohibition on import or transit of goods originating in or exported from Pakistan (para 2.20A, FTP 2023)
Scope. A record here does not by itself mean a product or company is unsafe or banned today. Regulatory actions can apply to one batch, one formulation, one period or one state. Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date. How we label records.
Below: Blacklisted's explanationWe organise and explain what the document says. The document above is the authority.
Key facts
- National
- CDSCO alert of 8 Sep 2026: unauthorised, no import registration, heavy metals beyond limits, stop sale
- Maharashtra
- Declared not of standard quality for mercury and lead on 4 Jul 2026; sale stopped; platforms told to delist
- Kerala
- Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream failed the mercury test at the state lab (CDSCO alert, Mar 2025)
- Import
- All goods from Pakistan barred since 2 May 2025; the cream was never registered under Rule 12
- Abroad
- The Philippines FDA has repeatedly warned against Goree; Kenya has banned it (reported)
Where the claim comes from
The question rose after Maharashtra's July 2026 stop-sale order and the Nagpur kidney cases, and again after CDSCO's September 2026 alert. Searches also pick up Kenya's and the Philippines' earlier bans on the same cream.
Goree Beauty Cream is made in Pakistan and has never been registered for import into India under Rule 12 of the Cosmetics Rules 2020. Since 2 May 2025 all imports from Pakistan have been barred by DGFT's Notification 06/2025-26. On those two facts alone, every tube on an Indian shelf arrived unlawfully.
The regulators then went further. Kerala's drug-testing laboratory found Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream failing the mercury test in the March 2025 round of Operation Soundarya. On 4 Jul 2026 Maharashtra FDA declared Goree Beauty Cream not of standard quality for mercury and lead, stopped its sale and told e-commerce platforms to delist it, after Nagpur doctors linked kidney disease in women to years of using such creams. On 8 Sep 2026 CDSCO issued a public health alert naming Goree and Chandni creams and directing all enforcement units to stop their sale.
So the answer to 'is it banned' is that it cannot lawfully be sold anywhere in India, and the authorities have said so in writing three times. What does not exist is a gazette notification with the word 'ban', because that instrument is for drugs. Reports from Ahmedabad on 21 Sep 2026 found the cream still on open sale, which is why the alert asks the public to report sellers.
What this means for you
If you have a tube
Stop using it. Mercury creams are absorbed through the skin and build up over months. Maharashtra's 2026 cases included kidney disease and nerve damage in long-term users. Mention it to a doctor.
'Original' Goree is the problem, not fakes
The CDSCO alert is about the Pakistan-made product itself. There is no registered, lawful version of it in India.
Report what you find
CDSCO asks the public to report Indian-made cosmetics to the State Drugs Controller and imported ones to the Drugs Controller General of India at cosmetics@cdsco.nic.in. Keep the pack and the bill.
This is a record of official orders, not medical advice. Do not stop a prescribed medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.
Common questions
Why is there no ban notification?
A ban notification is used for drugs under Section 26A. Cosmetics imported without registration are already unlawful to sell; CDSCO's alert tells the states to enforce that. The Maharashtra order is a state-level stop-sale under the Cosmetics Rules.
How much mercury was found?
CDSCO's alert says 'beyond the specified limits' (1 ppm). State statements have quoted up to 20,000 ppm in Kerala and 18 to 40 times the limit in Maharashtra; those figures come from the states, not the alert.
Official sources and primary records
- Public health alert: Goree Beauty Cream and Chandni Whitening Cream (File COS-11012/07/2026)RegulatorCDSCO · 8 September 2026
- Goree and Chandni, Pakistan-made creams flagged for toxic heavy metals: how did they make their way into India?NewsBusiness Today · 16 September 2026
- Goree Beauty Cream ban: Maharashtra FDA declares three creams not of standard quality after Nagpur kidney casesNewsBusiness Today · 5 July 2026
- How adulterated fairness creams led to a surge of mercury poisoning cases in rural MaharashtraNewsScroll.in · 17 August 2026
- DGFT Notification 06/2025-26: prohibition on import or transit of goods originating in or exported from Pakistan (para 2.20A, FTP 2023)GazetteDirectorate General of Foreign Trade · 2 May 2025
- Regulator