Brand check
Is Vicks VapoRub banned in India?
Last checked 19 September 2026
Vicks VapoRub is not banned in India as of 19 Sep 2026; no notification names the balm, and the 'Vicks ban' stories concern the unrelated Vicks Action 500 tablet.
- Classification
- No ban or recall found in official records
- Decided by
- CDSCO / Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
- Reference
- No Section 26A notification for Vicks VapoRub
- Latest action
- 10 March 2016
- Last checked
- 19 September 2026
Vicks VapoRub jar. Photo: Vicks VapoRub IMG 20211101.jpg by Aniol (CC BY-SA 4.0). Brand names and logos belong to their owners and are used here to identify the product this entry is about. All photo credits.
CDSCO: Drugs banned in India (consumer section)
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 Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date.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
- Governing authority
- CDSCO, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
- Ban notification
- None
- Marketer
- Procter & Gamble
- Product type
- Topical balm (camphor, menthol, eucalyptus oil, turpentine oil)
- Label caution
- Not for children under 2 years; do not apply inside nostrils or on broken skin
Where the claim comes from
'Is Vicks banned in India' merges two products. The Vicks Action 500 tablet was banned in 2016 and, in its old PPA form, in 2011, and both stories were headlined 'Vicks banned'. Separately, social posts have circulated for years claiming VapoRub is 'banned in the US or Europe', which is also untrue. The balm has never been the subject of an Indian notification.
Vicks VapoRub is a topical balm, camphor, menthol, eucalyptus oil and turpentine oil in a petrolatum base, rubbed on the chest and throat for cold symptoms. It is not banned in India, has never been named in a notification and is not the subject of any current regulatory proceeding.
The question exists because of a different Vicks product. Vicks Action 500, a cold tablet, was banned twice: its original phenylpropanolamine formula in 2011, and the reformulated Vicks Action 500 Advanced in the 344-FDC wave of March 2016, an order the Delhi High Court later quashed. Both times the headline was "Vicks banned", and the brand name did the rest. A long-running social-media claim that VapoRub is banned in the United States or Europe adds to the noise; it is also false.
VapoRub is regulated as a drug in India and carries the same cautions as camphor-containing balms elsewhere: it is not for children under two, should not be applied inside the nostrils, on broken skin or near the eyes, and must not be swallowed. Those are label instructions.
If you use the balm for a child, follow the age limit and the amounts on the pack. For anything more than a mild cold in a small child, the October 2025 DGHS guidance is to see a doctor rather than reach for cough-and-cold products of any kind.
What this means for you
Use as before
VapoRub is sold over the counter and is not the subject of any regulatory action.
Follow the age limit on the pack
The under-2 caution is a label instruction about camphor, not a ban.
This is a record of official orders, not medical advice. Do not stop a prescribed medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.
Batches flagged in CDSCO alerts
No NSQ batch on record. No product matching this name appears in CDSCO or state-lab NSQ alerts from Jan 2019 to July 2026. Absence from the alerts is not proof of quality, check your batch number.
Official sources and primary records
- Regulator
- Scroll: Delhi High Court stays ban on D'Cold, Vicks Action 500 and 300+ medicinesNewsScroll.in · 1 December 2016
- AIR: Health ministry advises cough syrups should not be prescribed or dispensed to children below two yearsNewsAll India Radio · 4 October 2025