The registrations, HSN codes, duties, and timelines involved — and an honest look at when doing it yourself stops making sense.
Published 2 July 2026 · Nikivya Semiconductor
A large share of the world's electronic component inventory sits in mainland China and Hong Kong — factory stock, distributor warehouses, and the trading ecosystem around Shenzhen. If your BOM includes a part that is only available there, you have two options: import it yourself, or buy from someone who imports it for you. Both are legitimate. This guide walks through what the do-it-yourself route actually involves, so you can decide with open eyes.
Three pieces of paperwork sit underneath every commercial import into India:
If your company already imports regularly, all of this is familiar. If you are an EMS or OEM whose imports have so far been handled by suppliers, setting up and maintaining this stack for three or four difficult line items a month is a genuine overhead decision — more on that at the end.
Every product crossing the border is classified under the Harmonized System — in India, the HSN code that appears on your bill of entry. Electronic components mostly fall under chapter 85 of the tariff. Two examples we work with daily: multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) classify under HSN 85322300, and thick-film resistors under HSN 85332929.
Classification matters twice. First, the duty rate is attached to the code, so the code decides what you pay. Second, a wrong or lazy classification is one of the more common reasons a shipment gets held for reassessment at customs. If a part could plausibly sit under two codes, resolve the question before the goods ship — not at the counter while your production schedule waits.
Two main charges apply when components clear Indian customs. Basic customs duty is calculated on the assessed value of the goods. IGST is then charged on the value plus the duty. A surcharge computed on the duty component may apply as well.
We deliberately do not quote percentages here. Rates vary by HSN code and change with budget notifications, and a number that was correct when this article was written can mislead you a quarter later. Check the current tariff for your exact code on the day you are costing the purchase.
Two things stay true regardless of the current rates. Many component categories attract relatively low basic duty, because policy favours inputs for electronics manufacturing — but "many" is not "all", which is again why the code matters. And IGST, for a GST-registered buyer, is largely a cash-flow item rather than a cost, because it comes back as input tax credit. Build the landed-cost sheet with current numbers before committing to a supplier's price, not after the parts are on a plane.
Components are dense value in small boxes, so air freight is the default. Airport to airport from southern China takes a few days; door to door with customs clearance, plan for roughly a week to ten days when the paperwork is in order. Express couriers can be faster still for small parcels, at a higher per-kilogram cost and with the courier's broker driving the clearance rather than your own agent.
Sea freight takes several weeks port to port before clearance even begins, and is rarely worth it for components unless the shipment is genuinely heavy or bulky. For calibration: our own standard sourcing cycle — finding the stock, verifying it, consolidating, shipping, clearing — runs four to six weeks door to door, and urgent line-down orders move by air cargo in seven to ten days.
Whichever mode you choose, the schedule risk is rarely the flight. It is the ground game: documents that do not match, a valuation query at assessment, a weekend between filing and clearance. Clean paperwork is the real expedite fee.
Everything above is learnable. The honest question is whether you want your procurement team doing it every month. The full cycle includes supplier verification in another time zone, negotiating in a market you visit rarely, foreign-currency payments, freight booking, bill-of-entry filing, clearance follow-up, and a purchase your accounts team must book as an import with every supporting document attached.
The alternative is to buy from an Indian importer who runs this machinery at volume. You issue a normal purchase order in rupees, receive one GST invoice, and claim input credit exactly as you would on a domestic purchase. The customs, forex, and documentation work sits with the importer. That is the model we run at Nikivya: IEC, GST, and MSME registered, sourcing across 80+ manufacturer lines, with full import handling from supplier to your dock.
Neither route is universally correct. High recurring volumes on stable parts can justify building in-house import muscle. For the irregular, difficult line items — the allocation-hit MLCC, the EOL part found only in a Hong Kong warehouse — most teams conclude the overhead is not worth owning.
If a China-only part is holding up a build, send us the part number and quantity. We quote within 48 hours, with the import fully handled and one GST invoice at the end. Start with a quote request — no commitment, no minimum order value.