India being a traditional supplier of opiate raw material to the world community under the Single Convention of Narcotic Drugs 1961 produces opium as per world requirement both in terms of quality and quantity required. Opium produced in India contains a range of alkaloids, such as morphine, codeine, thebaine, noscapine and papaverine. These have widespread medical and scientific uses. While codeine, morphine and thebaine are classified as narcotic drugs, noscapine and papaverine are considered non-narcotic drugs.

Indian opium: contents of quality Alkaloids
Morphine 9.5 to 12%
Thebaine 1 to 1.5%
Noscapine 6 to 7%
Papaverine 0.5%
Natural Codeine 2.5%

The manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in India is governed through the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act). Natural narcotics drugs are currently manufactured solely by the Government Opium and Alkaloids Factories (GOAF), an arm of the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue. The GOAF are directly responsible for manufacture, sale and export/import of opium and its alkaloids, as well as all commercial transactions in India and abroad. It is headed by the Chief Controller of Factories . The two production units are located at Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, 76 kms from Varanasi and at Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, 120 kms from Udaipur, the nearest airports. The opium factories undertake receipt storage and processing of opium, for domestic sales and export. The Alkaloid Works engage in processing the opium into alkaloids of pharmaceutical grades.