Complete Guide to International Shipping from India

Now, international shipping is not only for industry moguls. Craft stores, D2C brands, families, and international SaaS companies have all begun shipping from India. If done well, shipping from India can feel as easy as domestic shipping. If done poorly, it can feel as though your tax dollars were given away to a customs black hole.

This guide provides a clear and easy-to-understand method for planning, shipping, documenting, and tracking your international shipments so you can avoid expensive, needless mistakes.

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Why International Shipping from India is Essential Today

Now, even small businesses, single influencers, and home-based enterprises can also be exporters, given that international shipping is no longer a barrier. Achieving a smooth, hassle-free shipping experience is paramount for your customers. They expect their packages to arrive when it is convenient, with no delays or customs interruptions.

With all this in mind, it is clear that exporting goods from India to customers is a main business concern, not a secondary thought.

When you can accurately predict how long a package will take to arrive, then you can tell your customers a realistic delivery date, which sets a clear expectation and builds a good relationship with them. One way to create efficiency in your operations is to have a global courier guide made so that new employees can have a document that they can reference to make sure there is consistency in your operations, so that your company isn't reliant on one person to keep all of the information in their head.

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Step One - Clarify What, Where, and When

Strong global couriers like the Atlantic guides will all have the same three questions as their starting point.

• What are you shipping?

  Is it documents, a sample, or a package of goods?

• Where is it going?

  Different regulations exist for different countries.

• When must it arrive?

  This will determine how you need to go about sending your package, whether it is with express or economy shipping.

  There are so many things to consider in order to determine what is going to be shipped from India internationally. Food, medicines, electronics, and cosmetics all have very specific regulations it is important to be aware of.

  Some products are prohibited from being shipped internationally, and others can be shipped but are subject to higher scrutiny from customs. Having a clear guide will prevent your company from wasting your time and your customers' time on shipments that customs will block.

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Step 2 - Judging Your Courier Partner

Selecting a courier service like the Atlantic with the lowest price is the fastest way to ease your shipping process. A more pragmatic approach to pricing is to take the other empty boxes into account. Partner comparisons should include:

• Coverage of the network and experience with your target market.
• Actual reliability of your self-published transit time windows.
• Support for customs and the strength of customs brokerage.
• Tracking and reporting. Automation of the tracking process. Customer support for tracking.

A Global Courier service should describe which carriers to use based on the destination, the weight, and the urgency of the packages. For example, use an express integrator for urgent B2B sample packages going to Germany, an aggregator economy service for small D2C parcels going to the US, and use a specialist for heavy box shipments to the Middle East.

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Step 3: Shipping and Labelling for International Destinations

No matter what, an unprepared packaging system can doom international shipments from India. Parcels will be getting tossed, stacked, and sorted. It is important to account for real-life handling.

Principles to incorporate into the Global Courier Guide:

• For items weighing over a couple of kilos, use brand-new, double-walled cartons.
• Individual fragile items should be wrapped, and empty spaces cushioned.
• Boxes should not be overloaded. A few smaller boxes are often safer than a bigger, overstuffed one.
• Strong tape should seal all edges, and reinforced joints that might burst open should be a priority.
• You must take equal care while labelling packages as you do with the materials you use. Consider the following points:
• Print labels with full addresses, including postal codes, addresses, countries, and phone numbers.
• Write a second copy of the address and the packing list, and place it inside the box as a backup in case the outside label gets damaged.

Flexible policies and strong packing materials will make sending parcels from India a breeze with a little care in documentation.

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Step 4 - Getting the Paperwork Right

You will need a little documentation in most cases, so don’t worry. Your global courier service, like the Atlantic, should provide you with the following basic documents, depending on your country.

• Commercial Invoice- describes the goods, quantity, HS code, unit value, total value, currency, and Incoterms.
• Packing List- for each carton, state the total weight, dimensions, and contents separately if there are many boxes.
• KYC documents- exporter identification as per Indian law requirements.
• Specific certificates for your product, like a fumigation certificate for wooden products, a test certificate for cosmetics, and FSSAI documents for foods, if required.

When shipping goods internationally from India, you must be honest and transparent when declaring item values and describing your goods in the shipping invoices, as the customs process relies heavily on it.

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Customs, Duties and Taxes

Customs are not a process that is predetermined to be flawless. It is a system that relies on the rules of the destination country and on the shipping and receiving of the system. There are many rules for the destination country the shipment is going to, which determine how many taxes and duties the receivers of the shipment are expected to pay.

These concepts might be useful to you if you are making a borderless global delivery process system for yourself.

- HS Code (Harmonised System) – a sequenced rating that identifies and places your goods into a category of product. The Coalition of Service Industries says, “Appropriate codes are essential for proper calculation of duties and expeditious clearance of goods..

• Declared Value ranges from under-declaring value transaction claims, which may incur abuse, fines, and/or confiscation, to value transaction claims with legitimate measures without risking abuse.
• Duty and Tax Thresholds values allow low-value shipments with Duty free. Additional value levels incur Duty and Taxes payable.

Set policy first as to which way Duty at destination is payable, DAP/DDU terms, which is DDP, as you pay in advance.

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Step 6 – Choosing Service Types and Transit Speeds

Not every parcel is meant to sprint. This determines the shipment type to match the service. This is how you keep international shipping from India affordable.

Here are a few options to keep in your global courier guide :

• Express Air Courier: Should be urgent, B2B Samples, Medical, and High-Value Items. Also best for 2 to 4 days to major hubs, Door to Door, and best for Premium Pricing.
• Economy Air: Should be for slightly urgent, and more value-friendly.
• Good for everyday e-commerce orders where delivery is within one week.
• Air or Sea Freight: Is used for shipping bulk or heavy cargo on pallets or in containers; planning and lead time increases.

When you Gradually Grow in Size, you might use a mixture of Services: air for high-priced customers or orders that need to be delivered at a certain time, economy for standard shipping from India to retail customers, and freight for bulk orders.

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Step 7 – Tracking, Insurance, and Communication

After you send out the package, you are not completely done. International shipping from India has several points to track: airport handling, overseas shipping hubs, and local delivery. Tracking is how you manage the part you cannot see.

Things to Always Include in Your Global Courier Guide:

• Always Choose a Registered Service and Send the Tracking Number after a Client Makes a Purchase.
• On high-value orders or fragile items, use Parcell Insurance with your Courier or Private Insurance.
• Monitor exceptions, failed attempts, customs holds, and address challenges and be proactive in contacting receivers before frustration sets in.

When customers see where their parcel is and when it is expected, they are less likely to lose patience.

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Building a Playbook for Small Businesses and D2C Brands

Small businesses often think, “It’s okay, we can just manage shipping ourselves for now.” This is usually a bad decision. Shipping manually takes a ridiculous amount of time. It’s best to build a process, even a lightweight one, from day one. This will let you develop international shipping from India as a major capability much earlier in your business.

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Practical steps:

Design a simple spreadsheet or system log to keep track of weight, cost, carrier, delivery, and time for every shipment. This will help you gain valuable real-world data to help you ship more cost-effectively in the future.

Decide the refund policies you want to implement when you receive undelivered parcels, dead on arrival at customs, or when receivers refuse to pay duties. Your refund policies should be balanced with the happiness of the customers.

As you gain more customers, look for systems that integrate your storefront with multiple couriers and can auto-generate labels and invoices, provide estimated duties at checkout, and more.

They are software versions of global courier guides, optimised for international shipping from India.

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Step 9 – Pricing International Shipping

A common mistake among many businesses is underpricing international shipping from India to make their storefront appear cheaper. International shipping from India is complicated, with real shipping costs that may vary; one must take into account whether there are fuel surcharges, currency fluctuations, new fees, etc. Think of a better model."

Some suggestions that could be of tactical use to you could be:

• Flat rate by region: consider assigning one rate for shipping to North America, one for Europe, one for the Middle East/Asia-Pacific and so on, all depending on an average shipping rate.
• Weight-based tiers: Up to 0.5 kg, 0.5 to 1 kg, 1 to 2 kg, etc. Higher weight tiers usually generate more of a profit margin per order.
• No Free shipping exceptfor orders above a predetermined high enough order value that you could afford to absorb the shipping cost.

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In a Nutshell

Shipping internationally can seem complex and full of nuances, but if you follow these steps and are clear with your intent, the entire process isa cakewalk. Choosing the right courier service is as important as labelling your courier, as both are detrimental to your courier’s well-being.

Choosing a courier service like the Atlantic ensures that your courier reaches its destination safely and on time. Label and Pack with the utmost care, provide all necessary documents related to your courier, and fill out applications in an orderly manner. And that's all it takes for you to ship internationally from India.

So why wait to have a global footprint? Ship today with Atlantic.