Customs · 9 min read · 30 June 2026

Seven reasons Indian shipments get stuck at customs

A container sitting at a port earns nobody anything and costs you every day. In our experience the overwhelming majority of clearance delays at Indian ports are not enforcement actions — they are paperwork problems that were fixable days earlier, for free. These are the seven we see most, and what to do about each.

1. The HS code is wrong or too vague

The Harmonised System code determines your duty rate, whether a licence is required, and whether the entry is flagged for examination. Get it wrong and the consequences range from an assessment query costing days, to a duty demand plus penalty months after the goods have been sold.

The most common failure is not a deliberately wrong code — it is a description too generic for the code to be verified. “Machine parts”, “textile goods” or “chemical” tells an assessing officer nothing. Descriptions should name the article, the material, the function and any relevant technical specification.

Fix it: classify before you book, not after the vessel arrives. If the classification is genuinely arguable, document your reasoning. For high-value repeat imports, consider an advance ruling — it converts a recurring risk into a settled position.

2. Invoice and packing list disagree

Customs systems cross-check documents automatically. If the invoice says 240 cartons and the packing list says 238, or the gross weight on the bill of lading does not match the packing list, the entry stops. So does the clock on your free time.

These mismatches are almost always clerical — a last-minute short shipment that was corrected on one document but not the others, or a supplier updating the invoice without reissuing the packing list.

Fix it: reconcile carton count, net weight, gross weight, values and currency across the invoice, packing list and transport document before the goods leave origin. It takes ten minutes and prevents the single most common delay in Indian customs.

3. A licence or permission nobody checked for

A significant range of goods entering or leaving India requires something beyond a standard entry: BIS certification, FSSAI registration for food products, CDSCO for medical devices and drugs, WPC approval for wireless equipment, plant quarantine clearance for agricultural goods, or a DGFT licence for restricted items.

The pattern is always the same. Nobody checks at quotation stage, the container arrives, and the application process takes weeks while demurrage runs.

Fix it: the moment you have a firm HS code, check the import or export policy condition attached to it. Anything other than “free” needs action before the cargo ships, not after it lands.

4. IGM errors

The Import General Manifest is filed by the carrier, not by you — which is precisely why it gets overlooked. If your container is listed under the wrong bill of lading number, with the wrong consignee, or with a package count that does not match your entry, you cannot file a clean bill of entry until it is amended.

IGM amendments require the carrier to apply and customs to approve. Neither is instant, and the free-time clock does not pause while you wait.

Fix it: check the IGM as soon as it is filed, before you file the entry. Catching an error at that point usually means a same-day correction; catching it after filing means an amendment application.

5. Valuation queries

If the declared value sits below what customs considers normal for those goods, the entry goes to special valuation review. Related-party transactions attract particular attention, as do goods where the department maintains reference price data.

A low value is not automatically wrong — genuine volume discounts, distressed stock, samples and older-generation goods all legitimately price below the norm. But you must be able to evidence it.

Fix it: keep the supporting trail with the shipment — purchase order, payment evidence, price list, correspondence showing how the discount arose. Answering a valuation query on day one with documents in hand costs you nothing. Answering it two weeks later costs you demurrage.

6. Certificate of origin problems

If you are claiming a preferential duty rate under a trade agreement, the certificate of origin must be valid, correctly completed and consistent with the invoice. Errors in the exporter details, missing signatures, an expired certificate or a mismatch in the described goods will see the preferential claim rejected.

The result is either duty at the full rate, or a delay while a replacement certificate is obtained from origin — which can take weeks.

Fix it: check the certificate against the invoice before shipment, not on arrival. Confirm the issuing body is one India recognises under that specific agreement.

7. Filing late

Free time starts running when the container lands, not when you file. Yet many importers wait for arrival before beginning documentation, losing two or three of the free days to work that could have been completed while the vessel was still at sea.

Advance filing exists precisely to avoid this. Prior bill of entry filing lets you complete assessment before arrival, so the goods can move almost immediately on landing.

Fix it: collect documents at shipment, not at arrival. File in advance wherever the goods allow it.

The pre-shipment checklist

Run this before the cargo leaves origin. It takes fifteen minutes and prevents most of the above:

HS code confirmed, with a description specific enough to defend it
Policy condition on that code checked — free, restricted or licence required
Any product certification (BIS, FSSAI, CDSCO, WPC, quarantine) already obtained
Invoice and packing list reconciled: cartons, weights, values, currency
Incoterm stated identically on every document
Certificate of origin checked against the invoice, if claiming preference
IEC and GST details correct on all paperwork
Duty estimated and funds arranged before arrival
Free-time terms known, with the expiry date diarised

What delays actually cost

Demurrage — charged by the terminal while your box sits inside — escalates in slabs, so the daily rate rises the longer you take. Detention, charged by the carrier once you have removed the container but not returned it empty, runs in parallel. On a multi-container shipment, a week of both can exceed the entire freight cost.

That is the real argument for front-loading documentation: not compliance for its own sake, but the fact that a fifteen-minute check at origin routinely saves five figures at destination.

Already stuck?

Send us the bill of entry or shipping bill number and the query that was raised. We will read it, tell you plainly what the problem is and what it will take to clear — even if the original booking was not ours.

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