Export documentation from India falls into five stages: the registrations you complete once before you ever ship, the commercial set you raise for every consignment, the regulatory filing that gets the cargo out of the port, the transport and origin documents the buyer needs at the far end, and the post-shipment proof that closes the transaction with your bank and the RBI. Miss something in stage one and you cannot file at all; miss something in stage five and your shipment stays open against your IEC long after the money has arrived.
Stage 1: one-time registrations, before your first shipment
- Importer Exporter Code (IEC) from DGFT, linked to your PAN. It must be kept updated annually or it is deactivated.
- AD Code registration — your bank’s authorised dealer code, registered at every port or ICD you intend to use. A shipping bill cannot be filed at a port where your AD code is not registered, which is the single most common reason a first-time exporter’s cargo stops at Mundra or ICD Khodiyar.
- GST registration and a LUT (Letter of Undertaking) if you intend to export without payment of IGST. The LUT is filed for each financial year.
- ICEGATE registration for filing and for tracking your shipping bills.
- RCMC from the relevant export promotion council — CHEMEXCIL, PHARMEXCIL, AEPC, CAPEXIL and so on — where you intend to claim scheme benefits or need council certification.
- Product-specific registrations: FSSAI for food, narcotics or drug controller approvals for certain pharma lines, explosives or hazardous goods approvals for chemicals.
The export documentation checklist, stage by stage
Stage 2: commercial documents you raise
| Document | Purpose | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Proforma invoice | The offer the buyer accepts; the basis of the purchase order and the letter of credit | Incoterm and named place must be stated precisely |
| Purchase order / sale contract | Evidence of the agreed terms | Payment terms must match what your bank is expecting |
| Commercial invoice | The value declaration for customs on both sides | Must reconcile to the shipping bill and the transport document |
| Packing list | Piece count, net and gross weights, dimensions, marks | Weights must reconcile with the VGM filed for the container |
Most Indian exporters use a combined invoice-cum-packing list. That is fine for customs, but check the buyer’s letter of credit: many credits call for the two as separate documents, and a bank will raise a discrepancy on a combined one.
Stage 3: the regulatory filing
- Shipping bill, filed electronically on ICEGATE by you or your customs broker. It carries the scheme code (free shipping bill, drawback, RoDTEP and so on), the HS classification, the FOB value and the AD code. Getting the scheme code wrong is not correctable later without a formal amendment.
- Let Export Order (LEO) — customs’ authority for the cargo to leave. Until LEO is granted, nothing loads.
- e-invoice IRN, where your turnover brings you within the e-invoicing threshold. Export invoices are covered, and the IRN details must agree with the shipping bill.
- VGM declaration to the terminal for every container, by weighbridge or calculated method.
- Dangerous goods declaration and MSDS for hazardous cargo, plus a packing certificate. Essential for dyes, intermediates and many chemical shipments out of Gujarat — see chemicals and dyes.
Stage 4: transport, origin and inspection documents
- Bill of lading or air waybill. The ocean document is a receipt, a contract and, in negotiable form, a document of title; the air waybill is never a document of title. The detail matters more than most exporters assume — see the complete guide to the bill of lading, and if a forwarder is issuing the document, house bill vs master bill of lading.
- Certificate of origin. Non-preferential, issued by a chamber of commerce or authorised agency, simply certifies Indian origin. Preferential, issued under a trade agreement through the DGFT eCoO platform, lets your buyer claim a lower duty — but only if the goods meet the origin rules of that specific agreement. Never certify preferential origin you have not verified against the agreement’s product-specific rule.
- Marine insurance certificate, required on CIF and CIP sales. Check the cover basis and that the sum insured matches the contract, commonly invoice value plus ten percent.
- Inspection and health certificates as the destination requires: phytosanitary for plant products, fumigation for wooden packing under ISPM-15, a certificate of analysis for pharmaceuticals and chemicals, third-party pre-shipment inspection where the buyer or the importing country mandates it.
- Any consular or legalised documents required by certain Middle East and Latin American destinations.
Stage 5: the letter of credit set, if you are shipping against a credit
Under a letter of credit the document set is not what customs wants, it is exactly what the credit says, prepared exactly as the credit words it. In practice that means: bills of lading in the stated number of originals, marked clean on board and consigned as directed; invoices in the stated number of copies with the goods described in the credit’s own language; the packing list, insurance certificate and certificate of origin in the stated form; a bill of exchange if called for; and any beneficiary’s certificate or courier receipt the credit demands. Presentation must be inside both the credit expiry and the presentation period after the shipment date. Read the credit the day you receive it and ask for an amendment then — not after the vessel sails.
Stage 6: post-shipment, closing the loop
- EDPMS. Every shipping bill is automatically reported to your bank through the RBI’s Export Data Processing and Monitoring System and stays outstanding until realisation is reported.
- e-BRC. Once payment is realised, your bank reports it and you generate the electronic Bank Realisation Certificate on the DGFT portal. It is the proof needed for most scheme benefits and for closing the entry in EDPMS.
- Scheme claims — drawback and RoDTEP, credited against the shipping bill where it was correctly flagged at filing.
- GST refund of accumulated input credit, or of IGST paid on export, which runs off the shipping bill and GSTR-1 data matching. Where freight is billed separately, the classification of that invoice matters — see HSN code and GST on freight charges.
- Record retention for the period prescribed under customs, GST and FEMA rules.
Because scheme rules, duty rates and DGFT policy change with notifications, confirm the current position for your product and scheme before you file rather than relying on what applied last year.
The three export documentation failures we see most often
- Documents that do not reconcile. The invoice, packing list, shipping bill and transport document must agree on description, quantity, weight and value. Destination customs compares them; so does the bank.
- AD code not registered at the port actually used. Cargo diverted from Nhava Sheva to Mundra at the last minute cannot be filed until the AD code is registered there.
- Preferential origin claimed casually. A wrong preferential certificate exposes your buyer to a retrospective duty demand and exposes you to the commercial consequences.
Where cargo is released without an original document at destination, the mechanics are covered in telex release, surrender BL and seaway bill. Our customs clearance team files shipping bills and checks the full set against the transport document before the cut-off, and unfamiliar terms are defined in the glossary.
Talk to Scapex
Send us your product, destination and payment terms and we will tell you exactly what export documentation your shipment needs and who issues each one. Contact Scapex Global Forwarding in Ahmedabad and we will work through the checklist with you before you book.