Importing From India to the US

In May 2026 a US ecommerce seller found out that a good chunk of the tariffs they had paid on Indian goods would be refunded to FedEx and UPS, not to them (r/ecommerce, May 2026 (opens in a new tab)). Their Indian suppliers had shipped every order on their own courier accounts, because those rates were two or three times cheaper than anything the seller could get. So the couriers were listed as importer of record, and the refund follows the importer of record. Nobody had cheated anyone. The seller had just never owned their own customs entries.

We'll carry that seller through this page, because almost every US mistake with India comes back to the same thing - who controls the entry. You'll get the tariff you actually pay today and how it got there, the Section 232 goods that pay something else, de minimis, entry rules, FDA and forced-labour checks, and an honest take on where India earns a place in a US supply chain. One caveat up front. US tariff pages go stale in weeks, so every rate here carries its Federal Register citation and a date, and you should confirm your own HTS line with your broker before you price.

Last researched 28 September 2026 · Next review 29 September 2026 · Written by SourcingFrom

The decision in brief is in the playbook: Exporting and trade → /india/#trade. The Indian export side and the transit table are on Exporting from India. This page is the US side.

1. What Indian Goods Pay Today

Take the MFN rate for your HTS line and add 10 percentage points. That's the duty on most Indian-origin goods since 12:01 a.m. Eastern on 24 July 2026, under HTSUS 9903.05.44 (91 FR 47318 (opens in a new tab), HTS 9903.05.44 (opens in a new tab), CBP CSMS #69326983 (opens in a new tab)). Anti-dumping and countervailing duties still sit on top where an order exists. How those layers add up in any market is on Import duty.

The 10% comes from a Section 301 action on forced labour that covers 60 economies, opened on 12 March 2026. India sits in the 10% tier rather than 12.5% because it adopted its own forced-labour import ban. There's no end date and no exclusion process, so don't price on a lapse.

Some goods escape it. Headings 9903.05.89, 9903.05.90 and 9903.05.86 carve out listed goods, including pharmaceutical-use articles, and Section 232 goods pay the 232 rate instead (next section). Which Annex II Part A lines cover spices, tea, cashew, shrimp and diamonds is Unknown to us, because the Federal Register prints that annex as page images. Ask your broker to check your line against Annex II Part A before you price.

This cuts both ways in a negotiation. An export adviser noted in July 2026 that a fair number of Indian exporters were offering "tariff discounts" on products that were still exempt (LinkedIn, July 2026 (opens in a new tab)). Check exemption first, then talk price.

2. How the Rate Got Here, and Why 18% and 50% Are History

Stale pages still rank, and in August 2026 a textile commentator wrote that most of the industry conversation was "still about the 18% US tariff" (LinkedIn, August 2026 (opens in a new tab)). So here's the sequence once -

1. 50% from August 2025: a 25% reciprocal rate plus a 25% IEEPA tariff over Russian oil purchases.
2. 18% from the 6 February 2026 joint statement (White House (opens in a new tab)) and EO 14389 (opens in a new tab).
3. IEEPA tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court on 20 February 2026 (91 FR 37789 (opens in a new tab)).
4. Section 122 surcharge of 10% from 24 February to 24 July 2026 (91 FR 9339 (opens in a new tab)).
5. Section 301 at 10% from 24 July 2026, open-ended.

Any supplier or guide quoting 18% or 50% is quoting history.

The interim trade deal isn't signed. Signing has been reported as near more than once (Sourcing Journal, 2026 (opens in a new tab)), and as of 23 September 2026 the deal was reported to be waiting on fresh Section 301 probes of India's rivals (EcoNiti, 23 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)). India isn't on USTR's list of agreements on reciprocal trade (USTR (opens in a new tab), checked September 2026). We wouldn't bet a PO on the timing.

Then there's the headline you'll see this month. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 (H.R. 5334), signed on 18 September 2026, directs the President to raise duties to a rate of up to 100% on goods from a country among the five largest buyers of Russian crude or gas that knowingly makes new purchases from 18 October 2026, with a waiver in section 115 (White House, 18 September 2026 (opens in a new tab), enrolled bill, section 113 (opens in a new tab)). It sets a ceiling, not a rate. A US logistics professional put it plainly on a forum that week - CBP assesses duty on the date of entry (r/logistics, September 2026 (opens in a new tab), and 19 CFR 141.68 (opens in a new tab)). Price the rate applied at entry, and watch entry dates rather than headlines.

3. Section 232 Goods Pay a Different Rate

If your product is on a Section 232 list, it's exempt from the 301 duty and pays the 232 rate instead. This is the one place where a side-by-side table earns its keep, because Indian engineering buyers really do need to see where their line lands (rates as of 24 September 2026, from FR, metals, 9 April 2026 (opens in a new tab), FR, pharmaceuticals, 4 June 2026 (opens in a new tab), FR, autos, 3 April 2025 (opens in a new tab), FR, furniture and cabinets, 9 January 2026 (opens in a new tab) and FR, 9 April 2026 (opens in a new tab)).

The derivative lists are what catch Indian engineering goods. A steel fastener, a casting or a kitchen tool can count as a "derivative". Since 6 April 2026 the metals rate applies to the full customs value, regardless of metal content (FR, 9 April 2026 (opens in a new tab)), so check the derivative annexes for your HTS line before the PO. Which generic and pharma-use lines escape both 301 and 232 is Unknown to us, because the 301 annex is printed as images and the 4 June notice lists no lines. If you import generics then get your broker's line check in writing first.

4. The Courier Trap, and Getting Your Refund

Back to our seller. If you paid IEEPA duties on Indian goods between August 2025 and February 2026, CBP's CAPE process refunds them to the importer of record or its broker, in about 60 to 90 days (CBP, IEEPA duty refunds, 2 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)). About US$132.5 bn had been accepted by 21 August 2026 (GHY, 21 August 2026 (opens in a new tab)). That's real money, and it went to whoever filed the entry.

If the supplier shipped on its own courier account, that was the courier. Another seller put the rule in one line - "The refund goes to whoever was IOR" (r/FulfillmentByAmazon, April 2026 (opens in a new tab)). And the same May 2026 thread shows why buyers fall into it. The Indian supplier's courier rate is the bait, and the price of the bait is that you lose sight of your own entries, including the HTS codes, which that seller said were "often incorrect". A US distributor importing from India and Europe said in 2025 that they had caught enough wrongly assessed tariffs that they "are starting to add up" (r/smallbusiness, November 2025 (opens in a new tab)). With chapter 99 stacking on top of MFN, there are more lines to get wrong.

The fix isn't glamorous. Use your own customs broker and your own bond, and let the supplier's cheap courier rate go. If a courier must carry the goods, open an account in your own name and give it your importer number. The same logic applies to sea freight. Two US buyers in 2024 had containers held at the US port for weeks because the Indian forwarder their supplier picked hadn't paid its US agent (r/AmazonSeller, 2024 (opens in a new tab), r/FreightBrokers, 2024 (opens in a new tab)). Nominate your own forwarder on FOB or FCA terms, and the agent chain answers to you.

5. De Minimis Is Gone

Duty-free de minimis entry is suspended for all countries, with postal shipments brought into line from 22 October 2026 and full statutory repeal on 1 July 2027 (91 FR 37789 (opens in a new tab), 91 FR 37801, postal rule (opens in a new tab)). Every India-to-US parcel is dutiable, samples included.

Here's the fact buyers on forums never mention. Formal entry applies above US$250 (19 CFR 143.21 (opens in a new tab)), so a modest restock now needs a bond and a broker, not just a tracking number. Indian D2C sellers have moved to duty-paid express or bulk shipments into US warehouses. For heavy goods in small lots, an express courier usually beats a forwarder below a few hundred kilograms because of forwarders' minimum charges (US importers, 2025 to 2026, Indicative). Check the current rate with the courier yourself. How other markets treat small consignments is on Low-value imports.

6. Entry Rules That Catch First-Timers

Before a formal entry you need a customs bond, continuous or single-entry (19 CFR 142.4 (opens in a new tab)). Ocean cargo needs an Importer Security Filing (ISF 10+2) 24 hours before it's loaded (CBP ISF (opens in a new tab)). Goods must be marked "Made in India" legibly and permanently (19 CFR 134.11 (opens in a new tab)).

Then the product rules. Food, spices included, needs FDA facility registration and prior notice (21 CFR 1.279 (opens in a new tab)). Cosmetics need facility registration and product listing under MoCRA (opens in a new tab). Children's product certificates are filed electronically with CPSC from 8 July 2026 (CPSC (opens in a new tab)). Textiles need fibre, origin and RN or company-name labels (FTC (opens in a new tab)). Label detail lives on Private label.

Two costs surprise people. Brokerage is often billed per line, and a first-time importer said in 2026 that nobody warned them (r/FulfillmentByAmazon, June 2026 (opens in a new tab), a post some readers doubted, so treat it as one voice). A PO with 40 SKUs across 12 HTS lines costs more to clear than one on two lines, and Indian orders tend to be many-SKU. And if you deliver inland, the truck from the US port can cost more than the ocean leg from India, as one buyer found on a shipment into New Jersey (r/logistics, 2024 (opens in a new tab)). Get the drayage quote before you celebrate the ocean rate.

7. FDA Holds and Forced-Labour Checks

Detention without physical examination applies under alerts 28-02 (black pepper), 16-35 (shrimp), 16-23 (lobster) and 03-05 (papad). The pesticide alert 99-19 lists 1,222 firms, 295 of them Indian (FDA import alerts (opens in a new tab), read September 2026).

The US border fails Indian spices for a different reason from Europe. In our analysis of FDA refusal records, Salmonella was the charge on 690 of 1,320 refused Indian spice lines, and 149 spice lines were refused even though a supplier lab package was on file. So a supplier's certificate isn't a shield. Commission your own test at an accredited lab, and test for Salmonella first. If you'd rather someone arranged the sampling and the lab, SourcingSync (opens in a new tab) does that. The test plans by product are on Quality control.

On forced labour, the UFLPA Entity List has no India-located entities, but goods made wholly or partly with Xinjiang inputs are presumed barred (DHS UFLPA Entity List (opens in a new tab)). Indian textiles using Chinese cotton or yarn, and Indian goods using Chinese PVC or polysilicon, carry that exposure. Ask for input origin in writing. This isn't an accusation, it's a normal question that good Indian mills answer quickly.

8. Two Special Cases

Quartz countertops from India carry exporter-specific AD/CVD rates, and forum advice on them ranges from about 1% to over 300% (r/importexport, November 2025 (opens in a new tab)). The rate follows the named exporter, not the product, so check that exporter's cash-deposit rate before the PO.

In that same thread, a buyer's supplier suggested paying 40% in cash and 60% by invoice to lower the tariff. A reply called it what it is - "textbook customs fraud". Under-declaring value to "save duty" lands on the importer of record, which should be you. Pay the true value on one commercial invoice.

9. Why US Buyers Still Source From India

With a 10% duty that some rivals may not pay, is India still worth it? For the right product, yes, and the evidence is better than the marketing.

India is a real engineering supplier to the US, not just a textile one. It was the top supplier of iron and steel castings to the US in 2025, with 42.8% of imports, and second in smartphones at 42.3%, up from US$74 m of shipments in 2019 (UN Comtrade, our analysis). In apparel its strength is specific rather than basic. India supplies about a quarter of US imports of babies' knitted garments (23.2%) and of women's woven blouses (25.4%), against 7 to 8% in plain cotton T-shirts (UN Comtrade, importer-reported, 2025). The playbook's Why India section has the wider picture, including where India is weaker.

On price, the honest answer is "competitive, not cheapest". India's cotton T-shirt enters the US at an average of US$1.83 a piece against Bangladesh's US$1.63 and Viet Nam's US$2.61 (UN Comtrade, 2025, unit values, not quotes). And the export base is broad. In most US consumer lines the ten largest named Indian shippers hold under a fifth of India-origin sea shipments (US bill-of-lading data, our count), so you're choosing among many small and mid-size makers who will give a mid-size US order real attention. That's the benefit, and it's also why checking who makes your goods matters. The walkthrough is on How to verify Indian suppliers.

Questions buyers ask

Next Step

Our seller's lesson cost them a refund, and it's cheap to learn from. Get your own broker, your own bond and your own forwarder before the next PO, then run your numbers in the landed cost calculator with the US preset (MFN + 10%, or 232 rates). Review dates for this page: 29 September 2026 (patented pharma), 22 October 2026 (postal de minimis), 4 December 2026 (polysilicon) and 1 January 2027 (cabinets and furniture). Every agreement India holds with other markets is on India's trade agreements.