All you need to know before importing goods from India

For someone who is relatively new to the Indian logistics, importing goods can get complicated if they do not have appropriate location-specific insights. Here are three important steps to help you plan your shipment better and ensure its timely delivery when importing goods from India:

Plan with appropriate buffer time

Every country’s logistics processes are different. It is essential to recognise the country-specific considerations and processes, and allot proper buffer time at each step of importing goods from India. Following points need to be considered to avoid delays in the delivery and in-transit losses of your shipment:

1. Proper planning: Occasionally, ports experience high traffic that causes delays in the timely arrival of the container at the port. Without keeping a proper buffer time, there is a chance of missing the port and shipping line cut-offs. Consequently, cargo delivery can be delayed by as much as 7 to 10 days. There are certain basic factors that need to be considered while planning your shipment. We recommend to keep proper lead time for arranging empty containers and getting them stuffed. Check if your supplier has Factory Stuffing Permissions, since it greatly impacts the overall lead time. Likewise, ensure that your supplier is registered for exporting goods and has a verified IEC code. This pre-planning will save you a lot of time during customs clearance and documentation.

2. Choosing the right service-provider: It is advised to opt for service providers who have deployed technology in their processes. Although India has been digitizing its logistics infrastructure, quite a few service providers still follow the traditional processes which are manual and prone to errors. As a result, in case a buyer needs to track their current shipment, they might have to wait for hours or even days before they can receive an update. A lot of extra time is wasted in manual follow ups and sometimes a small delay in identifying the issues can result in financial and reputation damages to the client. Hence, it is suggested to opt for tech-enabled service providers who can provide services like GPS tracking of their trucks and vessels in order to get real-time updates about the cargo, online documentation, and an online portal that makes the processes more time & cost-efficient.

3. Seasonality: Indian ports experience occasional delays due to monsoons and rough weather conditions. Additionally, the ports witness high traffic in peak seasons, i.e. during the months of March and September-November, and a different planning approach is required for such situations. It is recommended, especially during these time-periods, that the service providers keep sufficient buffer time to deal with avoidable delays due to geographic factors.

4. Commodity-specific documentation: Not every shipment is the same. Different commodities are required to adhere to different regulations. For instance, your exporter needs an Export Licence issued by FSSAI (Food Safety & Standards Authority of India) for food commodities. Similarly, chemical commodities should adhere to TSCA guidelines, and MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests) approval is required for Hazardous goods. Also do thorough research on commodities prohibited from being exported from India. Knowledge of commodity-specific requirements will help save time during documentation and customs clearance. Contact a knowledgeable Indian logistics partner to help you with the existing guidelines.

5. Existing guidelines and stuffing regulations: Foreign buyers should consider where they’re procuring their goods from, and whether the said vendor has dock-stuffing or factory stuffing permissions. Certain large exporters are allowed to stuff their cargo at the factory itself. This cuts down time, costs, and reduces multiple handling of the shipment. If the vendor is not authorized for factory stuffing, they have to opt for dock-stuffing, which is a slightly different process that should be planned in advance.

6. Occasional digital infrastructure challenges: India has been digitizing its logistics infrastructure, and most of the customs processes have shifted online. Occasionally, government websites for filing the import and export documents may be down. This can result in a delay in the delivery of your cargo since it might miss the next sailing. An extra buffer time needs to be kept in case of such discrepancies in the process.

7. Unforeseen delays: Unforeseen delays can occur due to highway blockages, unforeseen traffic restrictions, transport/labour strikes etc. Be aware that this can happen extremely at random and make appropriate adjustments.

Delegate to a single service provider

Considering all the different services involved in the shipping of goods, i.e. ocean freight, in-land transportation, and customs clearance, it is advised to work through a single service provider that can coordinate locally. For an importer operating from outside India, co-ordinating multiple providers may become complex and time-consuming at times. However, when you outsource to a single service provider, you establish a single point-of-contact. It then becomes their responsibility to co-ordinate all the processes as well, resulting in fewer follow-ups, clear chain of accountability and decreased probability of errors or delays due to coordination.

Verify the quality of your cargo

Just like anywhere else in the world, occasionally, there can be problems with the quality of the goods delivered. If you discover that the quality of the delivered goods is not up to the expectations, after it has arrived at your door, the time, cost, and management bandwidth involved in rectifying the situation will be many multiples of the logistics cost. It is therefore advised to check if your Indian logistics company provides cargo testing services. Cargo testing usually involves randomized batch testing, and can help you catch issues before the costly process of shipping the goods. Identifying quality issues of the cargo pre-shipment will save you a lot of cost and time.

Considering the above factors while importing goods from India can save you from unnecessary follow-ups, damages, delays, and cost-escalation. Proper location-specific insights can greatly help you improve your processes.

Freightwalla assists you in meeting all of the above import and export requirements and leverages technology to bring in convenience and transparency in your shipping processes. With the help of our intelligent tech-enabled portal, you can now get instant quotations, real-time tracking, and accurate documentation. You can visit our user-friendly portal at www.freightwalla.com or drop your queries at hello@freightwalla.com .