New Delhi, June 26 -- The government has proposed easing drug import rules and relaxing shelf-life norms for imported medicines to promote pharmaceutical research and development and improve ease of doing business.

The draft amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945, released by the health ministry, aim to reduce compliance requirements for pharma companies and researchers and improve inventory management.

The first amendment simplifies the procedure for obtaining permission to import drugs for examination, test, or analysis.

"The amendment introduces an acknowledgement-based system for import of all drugs in small quantities for analytical and non-clinical testing purposes," according to the draft notification updated on the ministry's webs...