Export and Import Documents Checklist for India

Most consignments that get stuck are not stuck on duty or on space. They are stuck on paper — a weight that does not match, a description that does not match, a certificate that was needed and nobody asked for. This is the document set for an Indian export and import, what each document is for, and who issues it.

Before you ship anything: the one-time registrations

• IEC (Importer Exporter Code). Issued by the DGFT against your PAN. Without it you cannot file a shipping bill or a bill of entry at all. One code per entity, and it needs to be kept updated.
• GST registration. Needed for the tax treatment of exports and for claiming refunds on zero-rated supplies.
• AD code registration. Your bank’s authorised dealer code has to be registered at each port or customs station you intend to ship from. Miss this and the shipping bill will not go through at that station — it is a common first-shipment surprise.
• Bank account with an authorised dealer, for receiving and remitting foreign exchange.

Registration requirements and procedures are revised from time to time. Treat the list above as the shape of what is needed and confirm the current position before you plan around any of it.

Export: the core document set

Import: the core document set

Documents that apply only to some cargo

• Phytosanitary certificate for plant material and plant products.
• Health or veterinary certificate for animal products and many foods.
• Fumigation certificate where the goods, the packaging or the destination require it. Wood packaging has its own marking regime.
• Dangerous goods declaration and MSDS for hazardous cargo, with the correct UN number, class and packing group. Get this wrong and the booking is refused, or worse, it is not refused.
• Certificate of analysis or inspection where the buyer or the importing authority requires it.
• Test or conformity certificates for regulated equipment.
• VGM declaration for packed containers before loading. Method and cut-off vary — confirm the current position with the line.

The consistency rule

Every one of these documents is read against the others. The description of goods, the quantity, the number of packages, the net and gross weights, the values and the marks have to agree across the invoice, the packing list, the transport document and the customs declaration. They do not have to be phrased identically, but they must not contradict.

Where they contradict, three things happen and none of them is quick: customs raise a query, the bank raises a discrepancy under the credit, and the cargo sits accruing storage and detention while it is sorted out. Nearly every document delay we see traces back to a mismatch someone could have caught in ten minutes before the file was submitted.

A working sequence for an export file

1. Confirm the Incoterm and payment terms in writing, because they decide who provides what.
2. Raise the commercial invoice and packing list, and check them against each other.
3. Book the carriage; give shipping instructions that match the invoice exactly.
4. File the shipping bill, with any scheme or licence details.
5. Arrange inspection, fumigation or certification if the goods or destination need it — this is the step most often left too late.
6. Cart in, obtain let export, load.
7. Check the draft bill of lading before it is issued.
8. Apply for the certificate of origin and assemble the bank set.
9. Present documents to the bank inside the credit deadline, if there is a credit.

A working sequence for an import file

1. Get the supplier’s document set early — before the vessel arrives, not after.
2. Classify the goods and establish the duty position and any licensing requirement.
3. File the bill of entry in advance where you can.
4. Settle carrier charges and take the delivery order.
5. Pay duty, attend examination if called, obtain out of charge.
6. Settle the depot or CFS charges and take delivery.

The customs clearance page covers steps two to six in detail, and customs clearance status explains what the tracking messages mean while you wait.

Keep in mind

Where to check the official position

Every requirement on this page is set somewhere public. Before you rely on it for a consignment, check it at the source:

• DGFT — IEC application and amendment, the Foreign Trade Policy, and scheme eligibility.
• CBIC — customs notifications and circulars, including changes to what has to accompany a filing.
• ICEGATE — e-Sanchit upload of supporting documents, and the filing status trail. The advance manifest data your carrier needs is covered in our SCMTR note.

Document requirements change: schemes are introduced and withdrawn, filing systems are updated, and a commodity that needed nothing last year may be regulated this year. Nothing on this page should be treated as the current legal requirement for your specific consignment — it is the shape of the file, so you know what to ask for and when. For the actual position on your goods, send us the invoice and the HS classification and we will tell you what the file needs.