Importer of Record services in India
No Indian entity or IEC? We become the importer on paper, taking responsibility for filing, duties and compliance, so your equipment reaches its site.
- Across our network
- 227+ Warehouses
- Under management
- 75,348.1 Lakh+ Sq. Ft. Live Space
- Customs to storage
- One team
Short answer
What is an Importer of Record?
An Importer of Record (IOR) is the party named on the import declaration who is legally responsible for the goods, the duties and compliance. Lozy can act as your IOR in India when you don’t have a local company, an IEC or the registrations your product needs.
What’s included
We take on the importer’s role, and everything that comes with it.
Importer on the Bill of Entry
We’re the named importer, holding the IEC and GST registration the shipment needs.
Duty and tax payment
Customs duty and IGST paid on your behalf and itemised in your landed-cost quote.
Product compliance checks
BIS, WPC and EPR requirements confirmed before dispatch, to avoid holds at the port.
Customs clearance
Filing, assessment, queries and release handled from start to finish.
Delivery to site
Goods move from the port or airport to your office, data center or project site.
A clean paper trail
Import documents kept on file for every shipment, ready for your audit.
Importing into Delhi NCR without an Indian entity
Most IOR shipments are bound for a site in Delhi NCR. Containers land at JNPT or Mundra and move by rail to an NCR ICD — Tughlakabad, Patparganj or Dadri — where we file as importer on record; urgent equipment comes through IGI Airport instead.
From release, goods go straight to your site or into a Lozy warehouse in NCR — one point of contact for the whole lane.
Who does what on an IOR shipment
An IOR file has four parties, and the line between them is worth knowing before the first container sails. This is how the work splits when the Lozy desk is acting as importer of record — the commercial side, the customs side, the origin end and the delivery day. Nothing moves until each side knows its own part.
You, the commercial owner
You decide what to buy, agree the price with your supplier and tell us where the goods must reach. You never sign a customs declaration or carry the importer’s liability — your risk stays where it belongs, in the commercial contract with your counterparty. If something about the plan changes — a quantity, a model, a delivery address — the desk is the first call, because amending a plan is cheaper than amending a declaration.
Lozy, on the Bill of Entry
We stand as the named importer of record: our IEC and registrations back the entry, we pay duty when it is assessed, answer customs on the file and hold the compliance records for as long as the regulations require. One desk is accountable for the whole Indian side. Registrations are kept current and audit-ready, which is the quiet work behind every clean release.
Your supplier, at the origin end
The supplier invoices the goods to Lozy, sends documents ahead of dispatch and packs to the schedule we share. We hand over an exact checklist before the goods leave, so nothing sails half-documented and nothing waits at the port for a missing sheet. If a document is going to be late, you hear it early enough to do something about it.
The end customer, on delivery day
Whoever finally receives the goods — your Indian buyer, site team or distributor — handles the practical side of landing: gate access, unloading, sign-off. They need no IEC, file no forms and meet no officer; the importer of record role stays with us throughout. Their name appears nowhere in the customs file, which is usually exactly what everyone wants.
Duties and taxes when we are the importer
When we act as importer of record, the duty bill does not vanish — it moves, and the question is how cleanly it travels. Here is how the money flows on our IOR services, and what stays documented at each step so nothing arrives as a surprise after release. The principle is simple: money and evidence travel together.
Duty funded at assessment
Customs releases nothing until the assessed duty is paid, so the desk settles it at filing time and the shipment keeps moving. The challan is raised in our name and tagged to your file from the first day, so there is never a dispute about who paid what. You can see the challan before reimbursement is raised.
Billed back with the challan attached
Your invoice from us carries duty and IGST as separate lines, with the payment challans behind them. The sums are checkable against the assessment rather than taken on trust, and the figures are converted at the rate customs applied and noted against the entry.
IGST and the credit question
IGST on an import is recoverable in the books of a registered importer, and as importer of record that entry sits with us. How it is passed through depends on your arrangement, and the treatment is shown in your quote before the goods ship rather than discovered at return-filing time. Where a client has its own registration, the pass-through is mapped before the first shipment moves.
No figures that move quietly
Port, terminal and examination charges are itemised as they are raised, and our own fee is agreed before we open the file. A duty line changes only through a formal amendment — and an amendment lands in your records the same way the original entry did. What you approve at quote stage is what reconciles at the end.
Ask for the funded-and-billed-back schedule at quote stage; it is the clearest way to see what an IOR service does with your money.
The compliance trail on an IOR file
Every official step on a file where we act as importer of record happens in a name, and most of them happen in ours — that is what the service is for. The Bill of Entry names Lozy as importer; the supplier’s invoice is raised to us; the duty challan issues in our name; the Out of Charge order releases the goods to us, and delivery onward is handed over properly. What you receive is the mirror of that trail: copies of the entry, the challans, the release order and a statement of what was paid against your shipment, ready for your own books. Records are kept labelled and retrievable for the full period the law expects, so a later audit starts from a complete file.
Keep that set. It answers most of what your auditor, your buyer or your own customs team will ask later — and if a paper goes missing, the desk can retrieve it from its own file.
How it works
Five steps from first enquiry to delivery at your site.
Share the shipment
What’s shipping, its value, origin and delivery site.
Compliance check
HS code, duty and any registration or licence confirmed.
Quote and approve
An itemised landed-cost quote for you to approve.
Import and clear
We import as IOR, pay duties and clear the goods.
Deliver
Goods delivered to the end site with import documents.
What you’ll need
Keep these ready and clearance moves faster.
Missing something? Send what you have and we’ll tell you what’s needed.
- Commercial invoice naming Lozy as importer
- Packing list
- Airway bill or bill of lading
- Product datasheets
- End-user name and delivery address
- Certificates for regulated products, such as BIS, WPC or EPR
Who uses it
Pick your kind of business for the paperwork, checks and timelines that apply.
Customs and warehousing with one team
Most importers juggle a customs broker, a transporter and a warehouse. With Lozy, the paperwork and the space sit with the same people.
Clear it, then store it
Cleared goods can go straight into one of 227+ Warehouses across our network.
One point of contact
One team follows your shipment from filing to delivery, so nothing falls between vendors.
Checked before it ships
HS codes, licences and paperwork are reviewed at origin, where problems are cheapest to fix.
An itemised quote
Duties, taxes and our charges listed before you commit. Port or examination charges are flagged as they come up.
Frequently asked questions
Can’t see your question? Ask it in the quote form and we’ll answer it with your quote.
When do I need an Importer of Record in India?
When the business receiving the goods can’t be the importer. For example, a foreign company with no Indian entity, or a buyer without an IEC or the registrations the product needs.
Is an Importer of Record the same as a customs broker?
No. A customs broker files paperwork for an importer. An Importer of Record is the importer, the party legally responsible for the shipment, its duties and compliance.
Who pays the duties when Lozy acts as IOR?
We pay duties and taxes at clearance, and they’re billed to you as agreed in your quote.
Can you act as IOR for used or refurbished equipment?
Used electronics and some second-hand goods need extra permissions in India. Share the details and we’ll confirm what’s possible before you ship.
What can’t be imported through an IOR?
Prohibited items can’t be imported at all, and restricted items need a licence first. We check your goods against India’s import policy before quoting.
Do we need an Indian company to use your IOR services?
No — that is the situation the service is built for. A foreign seller, a parent company or an overseas project office can ship into India with Lozy as importer of record while the goods are consigned onward to the real user. You keep the commercial relationship; the Indian paperwork stays with us. Title and payment terms remain strictly between you and your supplier.
Who is legally liable for a shipment when you are the importer of record?
Lozy is — the duty, the declarations and the compliance on the Bill of Entry rest with us while we are the named importer. Your side of the bargain is commercial: paying for the goods and our service as agreed. It is worth reading the terms once rather than assuming, and our quote spells the split out plainly. If customs ever escalates beyond routine — a show-cause process, an audit — the desk carries it, because the file is in its name.
Can the goods be invoiced onward to our Indian customer?
Yes, if your arrangement works that way. A consignment imported by Lozy can move to your buyer under a sale invoice from us, or be delivered on your instructions while the commercial relationship stays between you and them. We agree the delivery paperwork — challans, e-way bill where it applies — before the truck leaves. If the buyer needs the invoice in their own GST setup, that is set up before the goods land rather than reworked afterwards.
What happens if customs questions the value on an IOR import?
The question comes to us, as importer. The desk answers with the valuation papers behind your invoice — purchase terms, the freight and insurance break-up, and any elements that belong in the value — and keeps the correspondence in the file. If the assessment changes as a result, you see the reasoning and the revised figures before anything is billed, so an adjustment never lands as a surprise on the invoice.
We already have an IEC. Can you still act as importer of record?
Yes, when your own entity cannot carry the shipment — no GST registration yet, product registrations pending, or a one-off project you would rather keep out of your own books. Plenty of clients use IOR services alongside their own IEC and move to importing directly once their registrations are in place. The transition is deliberate: the desk hands over the classification history and annexures so your first self-filed shipment is not a cold start.
How do we verify the duty you paid on our behalf?
You get the evidence, not a summary: the assessed Bill of Entry, the duty challan and the payment receipt, all bearing the entry number you were given at filing. Our invoice shows duty and IGST as lines that match those papers, and the totals reconcile with the assessment copy. If your auditor wants to go deeper — a valuation working, an exchange-rate note — the desk answers their questions directly.
Related services
Get a landed-cost quote
Tell us what you’re shipping. We’ll reply with duty, taxes and our charges itemised, so you can decide before anything moves.
- Product description or HS code
- Value and quantity
- Origin and delivery city
Prefer to talk? Call +91 93547 12345 or email support@lozy.in.
