India is considering imposing an anti-dumping duty on import of two variants of anti-bacterial drug pencilin to protect the domestic industry from cheap Chinese and Mexican shipments.

"The provisional anti-dumping duty to be imposed on Penicillin-G Potassium and 6-Amino Penicillanic Acid would range between $18.54 per billion oxford units (BOU) and $2.10 per BOU," a commerce ministry official said.

The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) in its preliminary findings has suggested the commerce ministry to impose the duty to check the damage done to the domestic industry, the official said.

However, the imposition of the anti-dumping duty is notified by the finance ministry.

Acting on complaints from the Vadodara-based Alembic and Chennai-based Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC), DGAD, the nodal investigating agency, had initiated the probe into dumping of the two products from China and Mexico.