Most clearance delays are not caused by customs. They are caused by a document that contradicts another document. The invoice says one description, the shipping bill says another. The value on the invoice does not agree with what the bank is expecting. The consignee is spelled one way on the packing list and a different way on the bill of lading. None of these is a serious offence. All of them stop a consignment.
So the useful checklist is not just a list of papers. It is a list of papers plus the specific way each one goes wrong. That is how this one is written.
One caveat before the list. Indian export procedure, scheme names, portal workflows and certificate formats change, sometimes with little notice. Everything here is a working framework, not a statement of the rule as it stands today. Confirm the current position with your customs broker, your bank and the relevant issuing authority before you rely on it. Where we are unsure whether something has changed, we say so rather than asserting it.
The three groups
It helps to hold the documents in three groups, because each group has a different owner and a different failure mode.
- Commercial documents — you issue them. They describe what you sold, to whom, for how much. Errors here are yours and they propagate into everything else.
- Transport and customs documents — the carrier, the forwarder and the customs system issue them. They must be consistent with your commercial documents.
- Regulatory and commodity documents — third parties issue them: government bodies, chambers, laboratories, inspection agencies. They take time to obtain, and that lead time is the thing exporters underestimate.
The checklist
| Document | Who issues it | When it is needed | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proforma invoice | You | Before order confirmation; basis for the buyer’s payment or L/C opening | Terms drafted loosely, then contradicted by the final commercial invoice. Incoterm stated without the named place. |
| Commercial invoice | You | At shipping bill filing and for the bank | Description differs from the shipping bill. Incoterm, currency or unit price does not match the contract or L/C. Value does not agree with what is later remitted. |
| Packing list | You | With the invoice, at filing and for handling | Carton and piece counts that do not tie to the invoice quantity. Gross and net weights that contradict the VGM. Marks and numbers that do not match the cartons. |
| Shipping bill | Filed electronically through customs by your broker | Before gate-in, ahead of the cut-off | HS code wrong or optimistically chosen. Scheme or benefit fields filled incorrectly, which is hard to amend afterwards. Filed too late for the cut-off. |
| Bill of lading or air waybill | Carrier or its agent | Issued after sailing or uplift; needed by the buyer to take delivery | Consignee or notify party name differs from the invoice. Draft not checked before release. Under an L/C, wording that does not match the credit exactly. |
| VGM declaration | You, as the shipper named on the bill of lading | Before the carrier’s VGM cut-off, which is usually earlier than the gate cut-off | Submitted late, so the box is not loaded. Weight disagrees with the packing list. Tare weight assumed rather than taken from the container. |
| IEC | DGFT | Once, before you export at all; kept current | Details out of date after a change of address, constitution or bank. Periodic updation requirements have changed in recent years — verify the current obligation. |
| AD code registration | Your bank issues the letter; registered at each port | Before your first shipment through each port of export | Registered at one port, then you route through another and discover it on the day. This is a common and entirely avoidable delay. |
| GST invoice and LUT or bond | You; LUT filed on the GST portal | LUT before exporting without payment of IGST; renewed each financial year | LUT lapsed at the start of the financial year and not renewed. Shipping bill and GST return details not matching, which holds the refund rather than the cargo. |
| Certificate of origin, non-preferential | Chamber of commerce or authorised body | Where the buyer’s country or the L/C requires it | Applied for too late. Details do not match the invoice. Wrong issuing body for what the buyer needs. |
| Certificate of origin, preferential | Designated agencies, generally through the common digital platform | Where a trade agreement gives your buyer a duty concession | Origin criteria misstated or not substantiated. Form for the wrong agreement. Rules of origin have changed under several agreements — verify before claiming. |
| MSDS and dangerous goods declaration | Manufacturer for the MSDS; you or your agent for the DG declaration | Before booking any hazardous cargo; carriers require it at booking, not at gate-in | Booking made before DG approval, then refused. UN number, class or packing group inconsistent between MSDS, declaration and marking. Outdated MSDS. |
| Phytosanitary certificate | Plant quarantine authority | Plant-origin cargo, where the destination requires it | Inspection arranged too late. Treatment or wording not what the destination country actually specifies. |
| Fumigation certificate | Accredited fumigation agency | Wood packaging and certain commodities, per destination rules | Pallets not ISPM 15 marked. Fumigation done after stuffing when it needed to be before. Certificate details not matching the consignment. |
| Certificate of analysis | Laboratory, in-house or third party as specified | Chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food and similar cargo | Batch numbers not matching what was shipped. Issued by an in-house lab where the buyer required a third party. |
| Health or veterinary certificate | The competent authority for that commodity | Food, feed and animal-origin products, per destination rules | Format not the one the importing country accepts. Lead time underestimated. |
| Insurance certificate | Insurer | Where the Incoterm puts the cover on you, typically CIF or CIP | Cover level below what the contract or L/C specifies. Currency or coverage period wrong. |
The consistency check that prevents most problems
Before anything is filed, put the invoice, the packing list, the draft shipping bill and the draft bill of lading side by side and check that six things are identical across all of them: buyer and consignee name and address, goods description, quantity and unit, value and currency, gross weight, and marks and numbers. Then check the HS code against the description, and check the VGM against the packing list weight.
That is a fifteen-minute check. It catches the majority of what would otherwise become a query at the port. Where a letter of credit is involved, add a seventh pass against the credit itself, because a bank will refuse on a discrepancy that customs would not even notice. Notes on the customs side of the process are on our customs clearance page, and the terms used here are defined in the glossary.
Sequence and lead time
The documents that fail are almost never the ones you control. They are the ones a third party issues. Fumigation, phytosanitary inspection, laboratory analysis, preferential origin certification and dangerous goods approval all have lead times measured in days, and they cannot be compressed on the afternoon before the cut-off.
Work backwards from the cut-off rather than forwards from the order. Fix the VGM cut-off and the documentation cut-off first, because they are earlier than the gate cut-off and earlier than people expect. Then place the third-party certificates against those dates with a buffer. The ocean freight page sets out the cut-off sequence; on air freight the whole chain compresses into hours rather than days, which makes third-party lead times the binding constraint more often, not less.
After shipment there is a second half: submitting documents to the bank, tracking realisation of proceeds, and closing out the export in the bank and customs records. Requirements around bank realisation certificates and their electronic equivalents have changed over time, so ask your bank what it currently requires rather than repeating what was true a few years ago. Meanwhile you can follow the consignment itself on tracking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the single most common cause of export document delay in India?
Internal contradiction. A description, value, weight, quantity or consignee name that differs between the invoice, packing list, shipping bill and bill of lading. Customs does not have to allege anything for the mismatch to hold the consignment.
Do I need AD code registration at every port I ship from?
Yes, in practice. The registration is port-specific, so routing a shipment through a port where you have not registered will stop it. Register in advance at any port you might realistically use, not only your usual one.
Is a certificate of origin always required?
No. It is required when the buyer’s country demands it, when a letter of credit calls for it, or when your buyer is claiming a preferential duty rate under a trade agreement. The preferential forms carry origin criteria you must be able to substantiate.
When is VGM due?
Before the carrier’s VGM cut-off, which is normally earlier than the physical gate cut-off and varies by carrier and terminal. A container without a submitted VGM is not loaded. Confirm the exact cut-off on each booking rather than assuming a standard.