How to import a dog or cat to India: DGFT restriction, AQCS NOC, quarantine and cost

Who may bring a dog or cat into India

Three routes exist and the one you fit decides your paperwork: transfer of residence under the Customs baggage rule, re-import of an animal that left India with an AQCS certificate, and a DGFT import authorisation for everything else. Dogs and cats are a Restricted import, so there is no route at all for a dog bought abroad to breed or sell.

DGFT Trade Notice No. 22/2022-23 of 19 December 2022 classifies ITC(HS) 01061900 as Restricted and limits dog imports under Policy Condition 7 to a "Pet dog with valid pet book and relevant records/documents in the name of importer", research dogs with a CPCSEA recommendation, and dogs "for the internal security by the Defence and Police Force"; Policy Condition 8 adds that "Import of commercial dogs for breeding or any other commercial activities other than the purposes mentioned above is not permitted";.

The baggage route turns on time abroad: "Import is allowed as passenger baggage, without DGFT authorisation, only to persons transferring their residence to India after two years of continuous stay abroad. Only cats and dogs can be imported under baggage rules";. That sentence comes from Customs Circular 15/2013 of 8 April 2013, in force from 15 April 2013, which replaced Circular 94/2002's rule that any passenger could bring two pets on a health certificate alone. The limit is two animals per passenger; the AQCS page adds route C, re-import under Customs Circular 25/2013 for an animal that left India with an AQCS export certificate.

The refusals are as plain as the permissions. The DGFT FAQ says "Dogs for commercial purposes like breeding/as gift or other purposes are not allowed to be imported" and "New born puppies are not allowed"; one page later the same PDF says "New born puppies of less than 7 months are not to be allowed", and the seven-month line is the specific one. Applications "for trading/breeding purposes, or applications made on behalf of some another person/entity shall be duly rejected";, and a tourist's dog "is generally not permitted/ allowed", with rare exceptions for a therapy or emotional support dog. That is why a breed with no Indian population, such as the Northern Inuit Dog or the Barbado da Terceira, has no lawful supply chain into India: only a pet already living with its owner can enter.

The instruments in date order, and which one governs today

Ten documents from four authorities govern a pet import, and each answers a different question: Customs decides who may use the baggage rule, the DGFT decides who needs a licence, the DAHD decides where and how the animal is examined, and its AQCS stations decide what it costs. Read in date order, the contradictions on the ranking pages resolve themselves.

Where two disagree, the later instrument from the authority that owns the question governs. The DGFT's six ports were correct on the day it signed; the port list is a DAHD question, DAHD added Kochi in October 2024, and CBIC Circular 07/2025 now lists seven. The AQCS baggage page's line that "Final clearance will be issued after 30 days" predates the 2020 SOP, which quarantines an unfit animal for 15 days Animal Quarantine and Certification…. The port-of-entry rule itself dates only from 15 July 2020, when the DAHD ordered the Final NOC issued "at the port of entry itself"; a page written in 2019 describes a different country.

Which airports and seaports accept a pet

Seven ports accept a pet dog or cat today: the airports at Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi, and the seaports or airports at Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, as CBIC Circular 07/2025 of 5 March 2025 lists them. The DGFT's December 2022 notice names six, and both are right for their own route.

Paragraph 7 of the Trade Notice says "Import of pet animals is allowed only through airports and seaports of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata";; Mumbai Customs repeats the six "airports having animal quarantine facilities"; and the AQCS FAQ counts six stations. Kochi came by Notification S.O. 4396(E) of 10 October 2024, which substituted one proviso in the 2014 notification: "Provided that a pet dog or pet cat as permitted under the applicable baggage rules shall be allowed to be imported through Cochin International Airport, Kochi under the jurisdiction of Animal Quarantine and Certification Station in Chennai";. CBIC Circular 07/2025 then told every Customs formation that import "is allowed only through the following ports as notified by DAHD: (a) airports located at Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi; and (b) seaports or airports located at Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata";.

Two limits follow from the wording. Kochi is open to a pet "as permitted under the applicable baggage rules", so a transfer-of-residence or re-import animal, and the notification is silent on the DGFT-licence route; and Kochi has no AQCS station of its own, so its examining officer answers to Chennai. A licence-route import should plan on the six ports the DGFT names, where the stations sit: New Delhi at Kapashera, the Western Region station at Kopar Khairane in Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad Animal Quarantine and Certification….

The DGFT import authorisation, when you need it and how to apply

A DGFT import authorisation is needed when the stay abroad is under two years, when the pet does not travel as passenger baggage, when more than two animals come, or for any temporary visit, and the DGFT asks you to start at least two months before travel. A person transferring residence with up to two pets needs none.

The Trade Notice requires an authorisation if "the period of continuous stay abroad is less than 2 years", if "the pet is not being transported as passenger baggage", or if the "pet cannot be imported under the baggage rules"; for more than two pets and for every temporary import, applications go "for examination based on the justifications along with supporting documents to DAH&D" first. The steps are set out below.

1. Apply online at dgft.gov.in through Services, Import Management System, Import Authorisation of Restricted Items, Apply for a new Authorization, on form ANF-2M.
2. Quote an IEC, your own or the permanent IEC IIHIE0153E for persons importing for personal use.
3. Select ITC(HS) code 01061900.
4. Attach the documents, meaning the vaccination book, pet passport or pet book, the emotional support certificate where claimed, and the passport of the pet; a temporary import adds the return ticket and a local host's undertaking of liability under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992.
5. Wait for the Exim Facilitation Committee, which sits after a DAHD NOC and "is held once every month"; the licence issues from DGFT headquarters.
6. Then approach the AQCS with the licence and the exporting country's health certificate, seven days before travel, "relaxable up to 3 days";.

Two timing figures disagree. The DGFT advises owners "to initiate the import authorisation application process at least 2 months in advance of the travel dates"; the USDA APHIS page, updated 27 February 2026, says the licence "may take about 1 month for processing";. Plan on the regulator's figure. The emotional support route, the only door for a short stay, wants a medical certificate with a prescription, a "copy of return flight ticket & live cargo receipt" and a local host's undertaking, "failing which action will be initiated against the local contact";.

The AQCS No Objection Certificate, step by step

Every dog or cat needs an Advance NOC from the Animal Quarantine and Certification Services before an airline will lift it, applied for on the ATITHI 2.0 portal at least 7 days before embarkation, and a Final NOC issued at the port of entry after a physical examination. The AQCS SOP issues the Advance NOC within 1 working day of a complete application, and the AQCS FAQ prices it at Rs 1,000.

The AQCS Standard Operating Procedure says the ATITHI 2.0 portal, built by the CBIC, "is operational at all notified ports", that airlines carry a pet "only if the passenger possesses a valid Advance NOC", that "No third-party involvement is required", and that a "fake, forged, tampered, or altered NOC" earns a deportation order. The steps in order are set out below.

1. Get the official health certificate from the exporting country's government veterinary authority, on the Indian format (Annexure 1.1.1 for dogs, 2.1.1 for cats) or a bilaterally agreed one, with the owner's name matching the ticket.
2. Vaccinate against rabies in the window. The dog (three months and older) and the cat "must be vaccinated against Rabies more than one month, but within 12 months prior to actual embarkation";; the dog certificate also records distemper, parvovirus and leptospirosis vaccination.
3. Microchip the animal and keep the certificate; the SOP lists "Vaccination and Microchip certificate" among the supporting documents.
4. Declare the purpose. You declare that the animal "is bonafide pet with no commercial interest, gift and breeding purpose", and carry proof of two years abroad and of transferring residence, the earlier AQCS export certificate, or the DGFT licence.
5. Apply on ATITHI 2.0 at least 7 days before embarkation with the certificates, ticket or airway bill and passport copy, and pay Rs 1,000 on Bharatkosh with the certification reference in the remarks box Animal Quarantine and Certification… Animal Quarantine and Certification….
6. Receive the Advance NOC within 1 working day, or point-wise reasons for rejection on the portal.
7. Present the animal and originals at the port of entry. AQCS staff examine it and, if it is "found sound and healthy", issue the Final NOC there; Customs clear the pet on that NOC.
8. If it fails the examination, the animal goes to the quarantine station for 15 days, with testing at the applicant's cost and deportation, post-mortem and incineration at the owner's cost if a test is positive or the animal dies.

The port examination is a five-line checklist: signs of rabies ("furious or dumb"), distemper (tremors), parvovirus ("Blood tinged diarrheoa"), leptospirosis or infectious canine hepatitis (yellow skin and mucous membranes) and leishmaniasis (hyperkeratosis), each marked "Yes (Quarantine)" or "No (NOC)";.

Quarantine on arrival: what the ranking pages get wrong

Two ranking pages describe a quarantine the instruments no longer impose. USDA APHIS says pets under baggage "shall be quarantined for 15 days" and that the NOC "can be applied for by mail, fax, or in person";; PetRelocation repeats that baggage pets "are generally subject to a 15-day quarantine on arrival";. The DAHD reversed that on 15 July 2020, with quarantine only where "any disease symptom(s) is/are found during physical examination", made the Final NOC available "round the clock at the port of entry itself" from 20 February 2025, and its FAQ says "Except for import of pets under baggage, all animals are quarantined. Pets under baggage can also be quarantined in case of doubt";.

What quarantine and clearance cost, line by line

The official charges are Rs 1,000 per import application and Rs 800 per day for a dog or cat held in quarantine, under the DAHD order of 28 April 2025 in force from 1 May 2025. A healthy animal that clears the port examination pays the Rs 1,000 and nothing more to the AQCS; a 15-day quarantine adds Rs 12,000 in accommodation before testing.

The order sanctions "collection of processing fees for Import & Export applications and enhancement of accommodation charges" at AQCS stations, replacing the notice of 1 January 2023, which had raised every line by roughly 10 percent over 2022 under the note "Rate of increment per year is 10% successively";. Both are image scans on the AQCS charges page, which is why no ranking page quotes them.

Every rupee figure above was divided by 84.38 and by 74 before publication; each is a tariff line set by a government order, and the one near-round result, Rs 590 at 84.38, is the 2023 attendant rate stepped up from Rs 563 in the same notice, not a converted dollar figure. A healthy dog or cat that clears the port pays Rs 1,000. An animal sent to quarantine pays Rs 800 a day for 15 days, Rs 12,000, or Rs 19,500 with an air conditioner in the kennel, plus laboratory testing, for which the order publishes no pet rate and the SOP says only "The applicant will bear the charges for testing"; Animal Quarantine and Certification…. The 2025 rate is 12.7 percent above the 2023 rate of Rs 710. Payment is online only, "through Bharatkosh Portal" with the reference number in the remarks box, and the AQCS flow guide gives each station's DDO and PAO codes to check on screen, 208749 and 008737 for New Delhi Animal Quarantine and Certification….

What no page prints

The rest of the bill is not official. Airline cargo or excess-baggage charges, the IATA crate, the exporting country's certificate fees and any agent's fee vary by route and animal; none of the eight ranking pages publishes an all-in rupee figure, and AirPets answers with "The cost depends on factors like origin country, pet size, crate dimensions, airline choice, and services needed";. Treat any figure you are quoted as that agency's quote on that date, never as the cost of importing a dog to India.

Cats: where the rules differ from dogs

Cats follow the same three routes, the same two-animal limit, the same ATITHI 2.0 Advance NOC and the same Rs 800 tariff line as dogs; the differences are the disease list on the health certificate, one seven-day examination window in the cat SOP, and the wording of the rabies rule.

The health certificate is where the species part. For a dog the AQCS wants freedom from "Rabies, Canine Distemper, Parvo virus infection, Leptospirosis etc."; for a cat the list reads "Rabies, Distemper, Feline enteritis, Feline panleukopenia, leptospirosis etc.";. The Indian cat format, Annexure 2.1.1, adds scabies, Aujeszky's disease and toxoplasmosis, and a cat that fails the port examination may be tested in quarantine for rabies, feline enteritis, panleukopenia and toxoplasmosis.

The seven-day examination window

The cat SOP carries one line the dog SOP does not: "The Cat Should be physically examined within 7 days of the date of shipment";. PetRelocation reads that as a "Cat-Specific 7-Day Influenza Examination";. The SOP's own words are a physical examination within seven days; the current Annexure 2.1.1 is not on the AQCS site and the copy APHIS hosts returned HTTP 403 to two fetch methods on 18 September 2026, so this guide reports the SOP's wording, not the agency's gloss.

The rabies rule carries a qualifier for dogs and none for cats, "The dog (three months of age and older) and Cat must be vaccinated against Rabies more than one month, but within 12 months";, while the 2021 certificate format certifies a cat's vaccination "in case it is more than three months of age";. A kitten under three months has no vaccination to certify; the Indian cat vaccination schedule starts at eight to nine weeks, so a cat leaving with its owner after a two-year posting is never the problem case. The species limit is the sharpest rule of all: "you cannot bring any animals (parrot, hamster, rabbit, fish, etc.) apart from dog and cat under baggage rule";, and the DGFT lists rabbits alongside cats and dogs as Restricted.

After arrival: registration and the 2024 breed list

Three things follow the Final NOC: the municipal licence where your city requires one, Kennel Club of India registration if the dog is to be shown or bred, and the paper trail the KCI asks for, which is the import file itself. A fourth, for a handful of breeds, is knowing where the March 2024 breed circular stands.

Keep the whole file, because the KCI wants it. Its checklist for "registration of dog as import status" asks for the single dog registration form, the export pedigree in original, the airway bill in original, the air ticket, the boarding pass, the DGFT licence, the Customs clearance document, the quarantine clearance document, the pet passport and a notarised affidavit. What that registration proves is the subject of KCI registration explained; the municipal side is in the dog licence and pet registration guide. A working import such as a Chesapeake Bay Retriever coming home from a posting registers on exactly this checklist.

The March 2024 breed list at the airport

CBIC Instruction No. 05/2024-Customs of 14 March 2024 reproduced a DAHD letter of 12 March 2024 naming 24 entries, from the Pitbull Terrier and Tosa Inu to the Rottweiler, "Terriers", "Wolf dogs" and "every dog of the type commonly known as a Ban Dog", as breeds "prohibited for import, breeding, selling as pet dogs and other purposes";. On 10 April 2024 the High Court of Karnataka held that "In the teeth of the statute, the Government of India could not have imposed a sweeping ban - a breed specific ban by way of a circular", that "It is an admitted fact that no stake holder is consulted", and ordered that the "Circular dated 12-03-2024, issued by the 1st respondent stands quashed";. PetTravel.com still prints the list as breeds "banned from entering India at any port";. The honest position for a Rottweiler or Akita owner is narrower than "banned" or "all clear": the letter is quashed, no document opened for this guide withdraws the Customs instruction itself, and the AQCS examination is a health check that asks nothing about breed. Carry the Karnataka order with the import file and expect the question at the Customs desk, not the quarantine desk.

Taking a dog or cat out of India

Export is a separate and simpler procedure: the AQCS examines the animal and issues a Certificate of Health for Export (Pet Animals), normally the same day, valid for 10 days, against a Rs 500 processing charge. The importing country's rules, not India's, decide what tests and titres that certificate must carry.

The AQCS export page lists what to bring, and the animal heads the list. The documents are set out below.

• The pet, for examination, with an appointment confirmed 7 days ahead by mail or telephone.
• A fit-to-fly health certificate from any local registered veterinarian.
• The microchip certificate and vaccination details, or the mother's record if the animal is too young to vaccinate.
• The owner's passport copy and air ticket, the airway bill if the animal flies as cargo, and an authority letter if someone else attends.
• Anything the importing country demands, such as an import permit or a blood titre test, plus two 4 x 6 inch photographs and photocopies of every document.

The AQCS FAQ names the document a foreign authority means by "a certificate issued by the Indian government": the "CERTIFICATE OF HEALTH FOR EXPORT (PET ANIMALS)", "Normally issued on the same day";. It is valid for 10 days, costs Rs 500 under the 2025 order, and is what turns the animal's return into a re-import under Circular 25/2013 rather than a fresh import. Take it even for a short trip; a pet coming back "will be treated as re-import";.