India Extends Egypt Halal Certification Deadline to November 2026

India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has extended the compliance deadline for mandatory halal certification on meat exports to Egypt by three months, according to Notification No. 28/2026-27, dated August 5, 2026. The transition period under the India Conformity Assessment Scheme for Halal, or i-CAS-Halal, now runs nine months instead of six, counted from February 9, 2026, which pushes the effective compliance date to roughly November 9, 2026, per A2Z Taxcorp’s reporting on the notification.

The extension revises the timeline set by Notification No. 59/2025-26, issued by the DGFT on February 9, 2026 and signed by Lav Agarwal, Director General of Foreign Trade, which added 20 countries to the list of destinations requiring i-CAS-Halal certification for specified meat and meat products, according to TaxGuru’s reproduction of the notification text. Egypt was one of the 20 additions, alongside Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Algeria, Syria, Lebanon, Senegal, Maldives, Brunei, Libya, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Yemen, Mauritius, Seychelles, Kenya, and Morocco, per Taxscan’s independent confirmation of the same list. As The Halal Times reported in April, the expansion took the total number of countries requiring the certification from 15 to 35, according to India Briefing.

Why Egypt Got Extra Time

Most of the newly added countries faced a standard two-week transition period from the notification date, but Egypt was granted six months to facilitate “system readiness and onboarding of certification bodies,” according to the notification text reproduced by TaxGuru. It is that six-month window, counted from the February 9, 2026 notification date, that the August notification now stretches to nine.

A2Z Taxcorp’s summary of the notification doesn’t name the certification bodies involved or say what stage the onboarding process has reached. It reports that the additional three months are meant to facilitate system readiness and to give Egyptian halal certification bodies time to complete onboarding and accreditation procedures. Indian exporters, meanwhile, are required to source certificates under the i-CAS framework from NABCB-accredited bodies, a condition the original notification says remains unchanged, “including the requirement for certification by NABCB-accredited bodies and compliance with importing country regulations,” per TaxGuru.

What’s at Stake for India’s Meat Trade

Egypt is among the destinations that matter to India’s buffalo meat trade. APEDA, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority of the Government of India, reported that India exported 1,254,775.31 metric tonnes of buffalo meat worth $4,060.56 million, or about $4.06 billion, in fiscal year 2025, with Vietnam, Egypt, Malaysia, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia listed among the major destinations for 2024-25. APEDA doesn’t rank these markets or assign a share to any single country. For exporters, and the halal certification consultants who advise them, the extension buys three more months to align documentation with the i-CAS framework before the deadline arrives.

No other newly added market received the same room. India Briefing reported that the other newly added countries were held to roughly two weeks, while Egypt alone was given six months. In both notifications, the stated reason for the exception sits with certification bodies on the Egyptian side completing their onboarding and accreditation, not with any change to what Indian exporters must produce.

What Comes Next

Barring a further extension, the nine-month transition period runs out around November 9, 2026, counted from the February 9 notification date, according to A2Z Taxcorp. Exporters shipping meat and meat products to Egypt will need i-CAS-Halal certificates issued by NABCB-accredited bodies in place by that date, which is also when the extra time the DGFT granted for onboarding and accreditation on the Egyptian side expires.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is i-CAS-Halal certification?

i-CAS-Halal, formally the India Conformity Assessment Scheme for Halal, is the certification framework Indian exporters must use for specified meat and meat product shipments to a notified list of countries, per DGFT Notification No. 59/2025-26 of February 9, 2026, which set the framework’s current country list at 35, according to India Briefing.

When does the new compliance deadline for halal certification on Egypt-bound meat exports take effect?

The compliance date moves to roughly November 9, 2026, nine months from the February 9, 2026 date of Notification No. 59/2025-26, per A2Z Taxcorp’s reporting on Notification No. 28/2026-27, dated August 5, 2026.

How many countries require i-CAS-Halal certification for meat exports from India?

The framework now covers 35 countries after Notification No. 59/2025-26 added 20 destinations on February 9, 2026, up from 15 previously, according to India Briefing; Taxscan independently confirms the 20-country addition.

Why did the DGFT extend the transition period for Egypt specifically?

The August notification cites the need for Egyptian halal certification bodies to complete onboarding and accreditation procedures, per A2Z Taxcorp. The original February notification, as reproduced by TaxGuru, had already granted Egypt six months “to facilitate system readiness and onboarding of certification bodies.”

How much buffalo meat does India export to markets including Egypt?

India exported 1,254,775.31 metric tonnes of buffalo meat worth $4,060.56 million, or about $4.06 billion, in fiscal year 2025, according to APEDA, which lists Egypt among the major destinations for 2024-25 without ranking individual markets.