NEW DELHI: India plans to amend its anti-doping law to make peddling banned substances a crime, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday, in a potential boost to the country's bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games in Ahmedabad.

India has topped the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of offenders for three consecutive years, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing the world's most populous nation.

Speaking at a UNESCO anti-doping conference in New Delhi, Mandaviya stressed the ministry's zero tolerance towards "the menace of doping".

"India firmly believes that sporting excellence must always be accompanied by integrity," he said.

"Every athlete deserves a fair opportunity to compete, with success determined by talent, preparation and hard work, and not by prohibited substances or methods."

"We will also bring another amendment in the next session of our parliament, which aims to introduce criminal provisions to deal with violations even more effectively, including those by coaches and supply chain stakeholders."

India also ranked among the top two nations for athletics' anti-doping rule violations between 2022 and 2025. That prompted the Athletics Integrity Unit board to move the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) from Category B to Category A.

Category A federations, deemed the highest risk, face stricter obligations, including minimum testing thresholds for national-team athletes.

Local administrators often attribute the high number of cases to increased testing, but doping remains rampant due to easy availability of banned substances, inadequate safeguards and limited athlete awareness.

India's National Anti-Doping Agency conducted more than 7,000 tests and held over 350 awareness sessions for 27,000 athletes in the last two years, Mandaviya added.