Buyer guide
Written for first-time and returning overseas buyers. It follows the order an enquiry actually moves in — specification first, price later — and names the documents and decisions that hold shipments up when they are left open.
Importers, distributors, processors and retail buyers sourcing from India for the first time, or tightening an existing process.
Specification, supplier checks, samples, inspection, Incoterms, payment, documents, container type and clearance.
Not legal or customs advice. Requirements differ by product and destination and are confirmed per consignment.
A price only means something against a specification. Write down the product, grade or variety, packing size, quantity, destination port and the trade term you want quoted. On agricultural goods, add the parameters you will actually test on arrival — moisture, size or count, foreign matter, colour value. A supplier who quotes without these is guessing, and the difference shows up at the discharge port.
In India an exporter must hold an Import Export Code (IEC) issued by DGFT, and a GST registration. Ask for both numbers and verify them on the government portals yourself. Abhaam Corp trades as ABHAAM CORP PVT LTD under IEC 0309022145 and GSTIN 23ABFCA7786G1ZG, with its head office in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Ask for a pre-shipment sample against the written specification, and keep a sealed retained sample on both sides. The approved sample becomes the reference for the whole order. For short-shelf-life or fresh goods, samples usually move by air while the main consignment moves by sea.
Decide who inspects, where, and against which method — at the packhouse before stuffing, at the port, or by a third-party agency you nominate. State whether laboratory analysis is required, which laboratory, and whether the result at origin or at destination governs. This single clause prevents most trade disputes.
EXW and FOB leave the ocean leg with you, so you control the carrier and the freight rate. CFR and CIF put the ocean leg with the exporter, which is simpler if you do not have freight contracts. DAP and DDP push delivery to your door, with DDP also putting import duty on the seller — check whether that is even permitted for a foreign seller in your country before you ask for it.
Common structures are an advance deposit with the balance against shipping documents, or a documentary letter of credit through banks. New relationships usually start with a part advance. Never send full payment against nothing but a photograph of cargo, and never release a full letter of credit without the document list you actually need for clearance.
A normal export set is the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or airway bill, certificate of origin, and for plant products a phytosanitary certificate. Your own authority may add prior notice, importer registration, treatment or fumigation certificates, or specific labelling. Confirm this list before production, because a label change after packing means repacking.
Dry containers suit cartoned and bagged goods. Fresh produce may need ventilated or reefer stow. Loadability, not just weight, decides the quantity, so the container type belongs in the quotation. Timber packing material generally has to be ISPM 15 treated and marked.
Once the bill of lading is issued, send the document set to your customs broker so entry can be prepared before arrival. Demurrage and detention charges accumulate quickly at the discharge port, and they are almost always avoidable with documents that arrive before the vessel.
The paperwork set explained one document at a time.
Work out an indicative cost per kilogram to your port before you commit.
Dated reference notes on Indian export requirements with the issuing authority named.
