Importing baby products from China to India

Step 1: Get registered before anything ships

Three registrations come first: an IEC (Importer-Exporter Code) from DGFT, GST registration, and an ICEGATE account for customs filings. None of them is difficult. BIS is where it gets hard. Toys and several baby product categories fall under mandatory certification, and the licence is held by the manufacturer under the FMCS scheme, which typically takes 4–8 months per factory. Goods that need BIS certification will not clear customs without it, and most casual import plans stop right here.

Step 2: Check suppliers yourself

A "verified" badge on a marketplace means the supplier paid for a listing tier. About their quality control, it tells you nothing. Better evidence is an audit report you commission yourself, a factory video with today's date in it, samples pulled from the production line instead of the showroom, and references from their existing export clients. We keep a log of every supplier we reject, and more of them fail our audit than pass it.

Step 3: Work out the landed cost

Compare your options on landed cost. On toys, basic customs duty plus the surcharge and IGST can push the effective rate towards double the FOB price. Feeding bottles and strollers carry lower duty, but they have to meet strict standards (IS 14625, EN 1888 equivalents). Add freight, insurance, port handling, testing and financing costs before you set the total against a wholesale price. Below container scale, importing yourself often works out no cheaper.

Step 4: Ship and clear customs

On a typical shipment you raise a purchase order on a 30/70 payment split, and a third party inspects the goods against an AQL plan before they leave. They go by sea into Nhava Sheva, Mundra or Chennai, and you file the Bill of Entry with the BIS licence and test reports attached. If customs flags the consignment, it gets sampled. After that, the goods go into the warehouse with GST paid. Sea transit from South China takes two to four weeks. Clearance adds days when the paperwork is clean, and weeks when it is not.

Buying from a licensed importer instead

Each of those steps adds fixed cost and lead time. If you order fewer than a few hundred cartons per cycle, buying from a licensed importer at dealer rates will usually cost you less than doing it all yourself. ZUBBU wholesale runs on exactly that: we handle the licences and QC, and you keep the margin.

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Buy wholesale from us instead

GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY, NOT MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE · FOR ANYTHING SPECIFIC TO YOUR BABY, ASK YOUR PEDIATRICIAN · UPDATED JULY 2026