NADA's director-general Rahul Bhatnagar told The Associated Press on Friday that the bans will be effective retroactively from the time of their provisional suspensions in June and July. The decision can be appealed within 14 days.

Hari Krishnan, who had tested positive for metabolites of methandienone, was banned for two years after the six women escaped with lighter punishment.

The athletes include three members of the relay quartet that helped India win gold at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2010 — Ashwini Akkunji, Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose.

The other three runners are Jauna Murmu, Tiana Mary and Priyanka Panwar.

All six tested positive for drugs that help build muscle.

Akkunji, Jose and Panwar tested positive for methandienone, Murmu and Mary for epimethandiol, and Kaur for the more common stanozolol.

The runners also faced a possible ban of up to two years for a first-time offense, but were given lighter sentences as NADA's disciplinary panel determined they had not intentionally taken the banned substances.

All six were trained by Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorodnik, who was fired in July following the positive tests.

"We did not find any significant fault on the part of these athletes on how the banned substance entered their bodies," Dinesh Dayal, the head of the disciplinary panel, said.