Checklist before importing goods into India: 2025 records and new shipments

Start with an exact product description

A description such as electronic accessory is too broad for a reliable review. Obtain a datasheet, photographs, material composition, model number and intended use. Ask whether batteries, radio transmitters, food ingredients or other regulated components are included. A supplier’s overseas HS code is a starting point, not a final Indian classification decision.

DGFT’s Foreign Trade Policy explains that India uses national eight-digit classification and that import conditions appear in the relevant ITC(HS) entry. Free import policy can coexist with requirements under other laws. Treat used or refurbished goods as a separate check. Record the classification reasoning and the date of the notification you relied on.

Check the importer and approvals before shipment

For ordinary commercial goods imports, obtain the DGFT-issued IEC unless a specific exemption applies. Check that its PAN, name, address and bank details agree with your business records. An old certificate in a folder is not enough: confirm current status and any update or scrutiny requirement on the portal. Assess GST registration separately against the business facts.

BIS certification is generally voluntary, but notified Quality Control Orders can make specified products subject to mandatory certification. Verify the product, applicable standard, manufacturer, model coverage, commencement date and any exemption. A foreign test report or CE mark does not, by itself, settle Indian approval requirements. Check other regulators where the product calls for them, using their current official guidance.

Build a landed-cost sheet in rupees

Ask the customs professional to identify the duty components that actually apply to the code, origin, valuation and date. Include purchase price, freight, insurance, applicable customs duties and import taxes, clearance charges, handling, local transport and a delay reserve. Avoid a universal percentage calculation: exemptions, additional duties and valuation adjustments can change the result.

Keep tax paid at import separate from commercial expenses. An amount potentially available as input tax credit still creates an initial cash requirement, and credit depends on the applicable conditions and supporting records. Do not count an expected credit as money already available in the bank. Compare the supplier’s delivery terms to the forwarder’s quotation so that freight or handling is not counted twice.

For any preferential tariff claim, establish eligibility and the required origin evidence before relying on a lower duty estimate. Goods dispatched from a treaty country are not automatically originating goods. Ask who will supply the documents and who will answer an origin-related query. The cost sheet should state its assumptions and who approved them.

Prepare one consistent consignment file

The FTP identifies the transport document, commercial invoice with packing list, and Bill of Entry as core import documentation, with additional papers where a regulator requires them. Compare seller and buyer names, currency, quantity, units, model numbers, package count and weights across the file. Obtain clean final documents before the goods arrive.

Agree who will arrange the customs filing and supporting-document upload through the relevant ICEGATE and eSanchit workflow. A customs broker can help prepare and submit the declaration, but the importer must provide truthful information and review key facts. Keep supplier correspondence, purchase order, payment evidence, insurance and any certificate of origin alongside the regulatory approvals.

• Use an agreed version of the invoice and packing list; mark corrections so older drafts are not filed accidentally.
• Verify the bank beneficiary independently if payment details change after the quotation.
• Keep written responsibility for inspection, testing, storage charges and return of non-conforming goods.

Plan clearance and the follow-up work

Clearance time depends on document quality, shipment arrival, examination, testing, regulator clearance and customs queries. Obtain a practical estimate with those dependencies. A fixed promise of two or five days can become expensive if a product permission is missing. Clarify the forwarder’s free-storage period and how additional charges are calculated.

After release, reconcile the Bill of Entry, duty payment and goods received with inventory and accounts. Investigate shortages and damage promptly with the supplier and insurer. Review import tax records through the currently applicable GST process rather than relying on obsolete GSTR-2 instructions. Maintain a documented retention schedule for customs, tax, product and contract evidence; one generic retention period may not meet every obligation.

Frequently asked questions