Export Documents and Registrations Required to Export from India
Written for Indian MSME manufacturers and exporters.
diipl Research Desk·Published ·Updated
To export from India you need three things in place: your business registrations, your commercial and shipping papers, and the certificates your specific product requires. The registrations are the same for everyone: IEC from DGFT, an AD Code registered at your port, RCMC from your export promotion council, and GST with a Letter of Undertaking. The shipping papers are also standard: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or airway bill, shipping bill, and a certificate of origin. What changes completely from product to product is the third set. Honey needs APEDA registration and an EIC health certificate. Shrimp needs MPEDA. Turmeric needs the Spices Board. A pharmaceutical formulation needs CDSCO. Getting that wrong is the expensive mistake, because it is discovered at the port. Enter your product below and this page shows the agencies and certificates for your exact HS code.
Returns the Indian agencies, certificates and registrations for your product family. Destination country requirements differ by market and come with your free report.
Compiled from the published requirements of each Indian export authority and mapped to HS chapters, so the agencies shown are the ones with jurisdiction over your product rather than a generic list. Every agency links to its official portal. Verified 2026-08-12.
What documents are required to export from India?
Two sets, and they do not change with the product. The commercial set describes the transaction. The shipping and customs set moves the goods and closes the money. Every document in both sets has to agree with every other one, because a mismatch is what customs looks for.
Commercial documents
Proforma invoice
Your quotation in document form. The buyer raises the purchase order or opens the letter of credit against it, so the specification, quantity, Incoterm and validity on it are what you will be held to.
Commercial invoice
The definitive record of what is sold and at what value. Customs on both sides assess against it, so the goods description, the HS code and the value must match every other document in the set.
Packing list
Carton by carton contents, net and gross weights, and dimensions. Examination officers work from this document, and a mismatch against the invoice is the fastest route to a hold at the port.
Purchase order or export contract
Written confirmation of quantity, specification, Incoterm, payment terms and delivery window. Without it you have no record of what the buyer agreed to accept, which matters most when a consignment is rejected on arrival.
Shipping, customs and banking documents
Shipping bill
The core export declaration, filed on ICEGATE against your 8-digit ITC-HS line. It will not generate until your AD Code is registered at that port, and your RoDTEP and drawback claims flow from it.
Bill of lading or airway bill
Issued by the carrier as receipt and, for a bill of lading, as title to the goods. Sea shipments get a bill of lading, air shipments an airway bill.
Certificate of Origin
Certifies where the goods were made. A preferential certificate is what unlocks the lower duty under an agreement such as CEPA, CETA or ECTA, and without it the concession is refused at the border.
Certificate of OriginMarine or transit insurance certificate
Required whenever the Incoterm leaves the risk with you, for example CIF or CIP. Some letters of credit make it a condition of payment even when the Incoterm does not.
Bill of exchange and bank documents
Used where payment runs through a letter of credit or documents against payment. Your bank checks the set against the credit terms line by line, and a single inconsistent field can delay release.
e-BRC
The electronic bank realisation certificate, generated once export proceeds land in your account. It closes the transaction on the DGFT side and supports your incentive claims.
Registrations you need before your first shipment
These are one-time and product-agnostic. You apply for them yourself on the government portals. diipl does not file DGFT or IEC paperwork on your behalf, and no legitimate research partner should offer to.
- 1
IEC (Import Export Code)
The DGFT-issued code that lets you trade at all. It is PAN-based and applied for online. You apply for this yourself on the DGFT portal.
Who does it: You. No agent needed.
- 2
AD Code registration
Your bank issues an Authorised Dealer code letter, which is then registered at every port or airport you ship from. Your shipping bill will not generate at a port where the AD Code is not registered.
Who does it: Your bank issues it. Your CHA usually registers it at the port.
- 3
RCMC
A Registration cum Membership Certificate from the export promotion council or commodity board that covers your product, applied for on the DGFT e-RCMC common portal. Most export benefits are gated on holding one.
Who does it: You, through the council for your product.
- 4
GST registration with a Letter of Undertaking
Filing an LUT lets you export without paying IGST upfront and then claiming it back, which protects your working capital on every consignment.
Who does it: You or your accountant.
- 5
Current account with an authorised dealer bank
Export proceeds have to land in a bank that can report them. This is also what generates the e-BRC that closes the transaction.
Who does it: You.
Which certificates your product needs
Every generic export-documents checklist stops at the same place: it lists the commercial papers everyone needs, then tells you to check your product's specific requirements. That check is the part that actually delays shipments. Indian agency jurisdiction is set by HS chapter, not by broad category, so honey (chapter 04) is APEDA while shrimp (chapter 03) is MPEDA, and both sit in the same customs section. This page resolves your HS code to the exact agencies, certificates and export-policy flags for that chapter. What it does not tell you is which countries buy your product, at what duty, or what each of those markets requires on arrival. Those answers come from trade data, and they are what decides whether a market is worth entering at all.
Jurisdiction follows the HS chapter
A sample of how Indian authority maps onto product families. Your own line may pull in more than one board, which is why the tool above resolves it from the code rather than the product name.
| Product family | HS chapters | Indian authority | Typical requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honey, fresh and processed food | 04, 07, 08, 20 | APEDA with EIC | Exporter registration and a health certificate |
| Shrimp and marine products | 03 | MPEDA with EIC | Exporter registration and a health certificate |
| Turmeric, pepper, cardamom | 09 | Spices Board | Certificate of registration as a spice exporter |
| Seeds, grain, live plants | 06, 07, 10, 12 | Plant Quarantine (DPPQS) | Phytosanitary certificate |
| Pharmaceutical formulations | 30 | CDSCO | Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product, plus state FDA licences |
| Textiles, apparel, home textiles | 50 to 63 | Textiles Committee, AEPC or HEPC | RCMC and buyer-specified test reports |
| Engineering goods and machinery | 84, 85 | EEPC India | RCMC, plus destination marks such as CE |
| Leather and footwear | 41, 42, 64 | Council for Leather Exports | RCMC and restricted-substance test reports |
When you need a CHA, and what stays yours
A customs house agent is not legally required for most cargo, but almost every exporter uses one, because the filing and the port work are specialised and mistakes there are expensive. What a CHA cannot do is obtain your registrations or your product certificates. That half stays with you.
You handle
- Your registrations: IEC, RCMC, GST and LUT
- Every product certificate, from EIC health certificates to phytosanitary and destination-market test reports
- Buyer confirmation of the certifications, marks and labelling that market requires
- The commercial set: invoice, packing list and certificate of origin
You need a CHA for
- Filing the shipping bill on ICEGATE
- Defending the HS classification on customs documents
- Registering your AD Code at the port
- Coordinating examination and answering customs queries
- Any restricted, SCOMET or special-procedure cargo
Pick a CHA who knows your product line. For gems and jewellery, controlled chemicals, and high-value or sensitive goods a CHA is effectively mandatory. One who works your commodity every week will flag a SCOMET, BIS or CBAM problem that a generalist would file straight into an examination.
The export procedure, start to finish
The order matters. Steps two, three and four are the ones exporters discover too late, because none of them announce themselves until a consignment is already at the port.
- 1
Register
Get your IEC, AD Code, RCMC and GST with an LUT in place. These are one-time and they gate everything downstream.
- 2
Classify the product
Settle on the 8-digit ITC-HS line before anything else. Duty, incentives, licensing and agency jurisdiction all key off it.
find your HS code - 3
Check the export policy on that line
DGFT marks every line free, restricted or prohibited. A restricted line needs an authorisation before you quote, not after you ship.
- 4
Arrange the product certificates
Register with the board that has jurisdiction over your chapter and obtain the certificates it issues. This is the step that is discovered at the port when it is skipped.
- 5
Agree terms in writing
Incoterm, payment terms, importer of record, and which certifications and marks the destination market requires. Get the compliance answers before you quote, not after.
import duty by country - 6
Raise the commercial set and book freight
Commercial invoice and packing list first, because everything else is checked against them. Then book the vessel or the flight.
- 7
File the shipping bill and clear customs
Filed on ICEGATE, usually by your CHA. Customs may examine the consignment. The Let Export Order is what releases it.
- 8
Collect documents and close the transaction
Take the bill of lading or airway bill, present the document set to your buyer or through your bank, and close the e-BRC once the proceeds land.
Frequently asked
What documents are required to export from India?
Every Indian export shipment needs three sets of paperwork. Business registrations: IEC, AD Code, RCMC, and GST with a Letter of Undertaking. Commercial and shipping documents: proforma and commercial invoice, packing list, shipping bill, bill of lading or airway bill, certificate of origin, and insurance where the Incoterm requires it. Product certificates: whatever the Indian authority for your HS chapter mandates, such as an EIC health certificate or a phytosanitary certificate.
Which registrations do I need before my first export shipment?
Five. An Import Export Code from DGFT, which you apply for yourself on the DGFT portal. An AD Code from your bank, registered at every port you ship from, because the shipping bill will not generate without it. An RCMC from the export promotion council or commodity board for your product. GST registration with a Letter of Undertaking, so you export without paying IGST upfront. And a current account with an authorised dealer bank to receive proceeds and close the e-BRC.
Do I need a different certificate for every product?
Yes, and this is where most first-time exporters lose time. Indian agency jurisdiction is set by HS chapter. Marine products go through MPEDA, scheduled agricultural and processed food products through APEDA, spices through the Spices Board, plant material through the Plant Quarantine authority for a phytosanitary certificate, and pharmaceutical formulations through CDSCO. Two products that sit side by side on a shelf can fall in different chapters and answer to different boards.
Do I need a CHA (customs house agent) to export?
Not legally for most cargo, but in practice almost every exporter uses one. A CHA files your shipping bill on ICEGATE, defends the classification on customs documents, registers your AD Code at the port, and handles examination and queries. You keep what a CHA cannot do for you: your registrations, your buyer confirmation, your product certificates and your commercial documents. For restricted, SCOMET or high-value cargo a CHA is effectively mandatory.
How do I know which Indian agency applies to my product?
Start from the HS code, not the product name. The first two digits are the chapter, and Indian agency jurisdiction follows the chapter. Honey sits in chapter 04 and answers to APEDA. Shrimp sits in chapter 03 and answers to MPEDA. Both are food, both ship chilled or frozen, and they are cleared by different boards. Enter your product or code in the tool above and this page returns the agencies for that chapter.
What is the difference between an export licence and an export registration?
A registration lets you export at all. A licence lets you export a specific restricted item. IEC, RCMC and GST are registrations: you obtain them once and they cover the business. A licence or authorisation is issued against a specific ITC-HS line where the DGFT schedule marks that line restricted, and prohibited lines cannot be exported under any licence. Check the export policy status on your line before you quote a buyer.
Paperwork is the easy half. The hard half is knowing where to ship it.
The tool above gives you the India side, free and complete. A diipl research analyst covers the rest for your specific product, in a free Market Research Report:
- Which countries are buying your product right now, and at what duty
- The certifications, marks and labelling each of those markets requires on arrival
- Low-tariff and duty-free corridors, including the agreements that create them
- Whether the demand is growing, steady or fading, so you enter a market on the way up
Related
This page is guidance, not a certification that your consignment is compliant. Requirements change. Confirm with the agency before you ship.