How do I start an import-export business in India?
Get an Importer Exporter Code (IEC) from the DGFT first: it is applied for online against your PAN, every shipment needs it, and it must be updated on the DGFT portal every year between April and June or it can be deactivated. Then register for GST, register on ICEGATE for customs filings, check your product's ITC-HS code in the Foreign Trade Policy to see whether it is free, restricted or prohibited, and join the export promotion council for your product. File a Letter of Undertaking on the GST portal so exports go out without paying IGST up front. Most people start as a merchant exporter, buying from Indian makers and selling abroad, which needs no factory. The paperwork is easy; the business dies on the buyer. Ask a new overseas buyer for advance payment or a letter of credit, keep open-account terms for buyers you know, and insure the rest with ECGC. Importing mirrors it: IEC, a bill of entry, duty, and any product licence (FSSAI for food) first.
A plain walkthrough of getting and keeping an IEC on the DGFT portal. It notes the rule most new exporters miss: the IEC must be updated every year between April and June or it can be deactivated.
The DGFT's page for the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 and its Handbook of Procedures, which set what can be exported or imported freely, what is restricted, and the schemes for exporters.
Explains the four ways an exporter gets paid, from cash in advance (no credit risk) to letters of credit, documentary collections and open account, and who carries the risk in each.
GST is the single compliance item a solo founder most often gets wrong, either registering too late or not knowing the threshold differs for goods (40 lakh) versus services (20 lakh). ClearTax is the canonical Indian reference on this: it walks the exact portal steps (TRN, Aadhaar authentication, document upload), the documents you need, and the penalty math for skipping it (minimum 10,000 rupees, up to 100% of tax evaded), so you register at the right moment and not a filing cycle late.
The threshold is not one number: roughly 40 lakh turnover for goods and 20 lakh for services (lower in special-category states), computed on aggregate all-India turnover under one PAN
You often need GST anyway to invoice business clients who want to claim input credit, regardless of your turnover
Skipping registration when required carries a penalty of at least 10,000 rupees or the tax evaded, so treat the threshold as a hard trigger, not a suggestion
The FSSAI's current table of which food business needs which licence and what it costs a year, revised from 1 April 2026: most businesses up to Rs 1.5 crore turnover need only a Registration at Rs 100, a State Licence costs Rs 5,000 up to Rs 50 crore, and a Central Licence Rs 7,500 above that. Importers, merchant exporters and businesses registered as e-commerce need a Central Licence whatever their size, and hawkers pay nothing.
Customs' own e-commerce gateway where shipping bills and bills of entry are filed and tracked, and where an exporter or importer registers to do business with Indian customs.
The government-owned export credit agency under the Ministry of Commerce, which insures exporters against an overseas buyer not paying and backs the banks that lend to exporters.
