Indian Customs Rules: What You Need to Know About Food Import and Export

When you're dealing with Indian customs rules, the official guidelines that control what food can enter or leave India, including safety checks, labeling, and taxes. Also known as food import/export regulations, these rules affect everyone from small-scale dairy exporters to big food manufacturers shipping packaged snacks overseas. If you're making paneer, spice blends, or frozen snacks for sale outside India—or bringing in ingredients like specialty oils or nuts—you’re already in the middle of this system. It’s not just about paperwork. It’s about getting your product past customs without delays, fines, or seizures.

These rules tie directly to food safety standards, the set of requirements enforced by India’s FSSAI to ensure food is clean, properly labeled, and safe for consumption. For example, if you’re exporting packaged food, your label must list ingredients in English, show the FSSAI license number, and declare allergens. If you’re importing raw materials like almonds or vanilla, you need prior approval from the Plant Quarantine Authority. Many manufacturers don’t realize that even a missing batch number or wrong net weight can get a shipment rejected at the port. It’s not about being perfect—it’s about being consistent.

Customs clearance India, the process of getting goods approved and released by customs authorities after inspection and payment of duties isn’t a one-time task. It changes based on the product type, origin country, and whether you’re shipping by air, sea, or land. For instance, dairy products face stricter testing than dry spices. Frozen meat needs a veterinary certificate. And if you’re using plastic packaging, you might need to prove it’s food-grade—like Code 5 PP plastic—and not a banned type. These aren’t suggestions. They’re legal requirements backed by penalties.

You’ll also run into tariff classifications, the HS codes that determine how much duty you pay on each food item when crossing borders. A bag of masala might fall under one code, while a ready-to-eat curry sauce falls under another. The difference? One could cost you 10% in duties, the other 25%. Getting this wrong means either losing profit or overcharging customers. The government updates these codes regularly, and many small businesses still use outdated charts from five years ago.

What’s in this collection? You’ll find real-world examples of how Indian food manufacturers handle customs—from the small shop making dosa batter for export to the factory shipping frozen paneer to the US. You’ll learn how to read FSSAI notices, what documents actually matter at customs, and how to avoid the traps that sink shipments. No theory. No fluff. Just what works.