Export Logistics

Four registrations cover nearly every exporter. Without them customs will not accept a shipping bill and the bank cannot match your export proceeds.

Marketplace sellers exporting to their own overseas stock also need the destination side in place: an importer of record in the USA, a VAT and EORI number in the UK, or a fiscal representative in the EU. We set that up alongside the Indian registrations so the first shipment is not stuck at either end.

• Commercial invoice with the Incoterm, currency, HS codes and IEC on it
• Packing list with carton, pallet, weight and dimension detail
• Shipping bill, filed by the customs broker and closed by the export general manifest
• Transport document: bill of lading for sea, air waybill for air
• Certificate of origin: Chamber of Commerce for general use, or a preferential certificate under a trade agreement
• Insurance certificate on CIF and DDP terms
• Buyer-specific documents: inspection certificate, packing declaration, fumigation certificate

Indian exporters leave money unclaimed mostly because the claim has to be made on the shipping bill at the time of export, not afterwards.

• RoDTEP: remission of embedded duties and taxes, credited as e-scrips on the ICEGATE ledger, at a rate set per HS code
• Duty drawback: refund of customs duties on imported inputs, at the all-industry rate or a brand rate fixed for your product
• IGST refund: automatic once the shipping bill is closed and the GST return matches, if you exported on payment of IGST
• Advance Authorisation: duty-free import of inputs against a commitment to export the finished goods
• EPCG: duty-free capital goods against an export obligation over six years
• Interest equalisation on pre- and post-shipment credit for eligible sectors

Under FEMA the export proceeds must be realised and repatriated, and the bank issues an electronic bank realisation certificate (e-BRC) against each shipping bill. The e-BRC is what closes the transaction for incentive purposes and GST audits.

1. 1Agree the payment term with the buyer: advance, open account, documents against payment, or letter of credit
2. 2For a letter of credit, check every clause against the documents you can actually produce before shipping
3. 3Ship, and present the document set to the bank within the LC's presentation period
4. 4Receive payment through the AD code bank, which matches it to the shipping bill
5. 5Download the e-BRC and file it with the RoDTEP and GST records

Marketplace sellers are paid by Amazon or Walmart in foreign currency into a payment provider, which remits to India. Those inflows still need to be matched to shipping bills for the e-BRC, and the mismatch between one shipment and many small payouts is a common audit query. We keep the shipment reference on every document so the matching can be done.

Once the paperwork is right, the cargo moves by whichever mode fits: ocean freight, as a full container or LCL, or air freight for speed. Customs clearance at the Indian port is part of the same file. On the destination side the goods land at an Amazon FBA warehouse, a Walmart fulfillment center, or your own US warehouse stock. Each of those has its own page with the transit times and the rules; this page is about the part that has to be right before any of them can happen.