EXPORTS · INDIA

Documents you need to send an export courier shipment from India

Exporting a parcel from India by express air is a customs declaration as much as a shipment. The courier files it electronically on your behalf, but it files what you give it. Four documents cover almost every personal and small-business shipment, and knowing which of two declaration forms applies saves a week of back-and-forth.

By Ravi Shrivastav, founder, ExpressBox · Updated 27 Oct 2026

The four documents

Commercial (or proforma) invoice: seller and buyer with addresses, a line per item with description, quantity, unit value and currency, the HS code where you know it, the country of origin, and the Incoterm (usually DAP or DDP for e-commerce). For a non-commercial parcel a plain declaration of contents and value on your letterhead does the same job.
Packing list: how many boxes, what is in each, with the weight and dimensions of each. For one box it can be a second page of the invoice.
KYC of the shipper: Aadhaar or PAN for an individual; GSTIN, IEC and PAN for a business. The courier verifies it once and keeps it on file for later shipments.
The courier's airway bill, generated when you book. Check the declared value and the description on it against the invoice; a mismatch between the two is the most common reason a shipment is pulled for examination.

CSB-IV or CSB-V: which courier shipping bill applies

Every express export is declared on a Courier Shipping Bill. Form CSB-IV covers non-commercial shipments: gifts, samples with no commercial value, personal effects, documents. It does not need an Importer Exporter Code and no export benefit can be claimed on it. Form CSB-V covers commercial e-commerce exports: goods sold to a buyer abroad. It needs the exporter's IEC and GSTIN, carries the invoice and item details line by line, and is what makes the shipment eligible for GST refund or export incentives.

The practical difference for a seller: a shipment declared on CSB-IV to avoid paperwork cannot be shown as an export in your GST return, and the duty-free status of exports under GST is lost. Declare sales on CSB-V from the first one.

IEC, AD code and the GST LUT

An Importer Exporter Code (IEC) is a 10-digit registration from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, free to obtain online against your PAN, and mandatory for any commercial export. An individual sending a gift or a sample does not need one.

An Authorised Dealer (AD) code is a 14-digit code your bank issues for the account that will receive the export payment; it is registered at the customs port your shipments leave through. Express couriers lodge exports at specific airport courier terminals, so register the AD code at the one your courier uses (for ExpressBox shipments from Lucknow that is Delhi). Without it the shipping bill generates but the payment cannot be reconciled against it, which becomes a problem at the next audit.

A Letter of Undertaking (LUT) under GST, filed once a financial year on the GST portal, lets you export without charging IGST on the invoice. Without an LUT you charge IGST on the export, pay it, and claim a refund later; with it the invoice is zero-rated from the start. Most small exporters file it in April and forget about it.

What the destination needs from the same paperwork

The invoice you prepare for Indian export clearance is also the document the destination's customs uses to assess import duty, so write it for both readers. State the value in the currency the buyer paid, describe the goods in plain words ("women's cotton kurta, 3 pieces", not "garments"), and include the HS code to six digits: the first six are international, so the same code works in New York, London and Dubai. For the USA since 29 Aug 2025 every commercial parcel is dutiable and the HS code and country of origin decide the rate; for the UK, sales up to £135 need the seller's UK VAT number on the invoice; for the UAE, parcels up to AED 1,000 are duty-free but 5% VAT still applies.

Items that need a licence before they leave

Some exports are restricted even when the destination allows them: antiques over 100 years old (Archaeological Survey of India certificate), red sanders and sandalwood products, wildlife products under the Wild Life Protection Act, and certain pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Food items need an FSSAI licence for commercial quantities and a phytosanitary certificate for anything plant-based going to the USA or the UK. Our prohibited and restricted items page lists what we cannot carry at all; for anything on the borderline, send us the product and we check before you pack it.

Questions we are asked

Can I send a gift abroad without an IEC?

Yes. A gift or a personal parcel is declared on CSB-IV with your Aadhaar or PAN as KYC. No IEC, GSTIN or AD code is involved.

Do I charge GST on an export invoice?

Not if you have filed a Letter of Undertaking for the financial year. Then the invoice is zero-rated. Without an LUT you charge IGST and claim it back as a refund.

Does the buyer abroad pay duty on what I sell them?

Usually yes, under DAP terms: the carrier collects it from the buyer before delivery. Under DDP you pay it and build it into your price. State the term on the invoice so both customs and the buyer know who pays.

Customs figures are those in force on the date above and are the same as on our lane pages; rates change, so confirm against your quote before paying duty.