The shipping bill and your GST refund
The shipping bill is the single most consequential document in an Indian export. It is also the one most often filed carelessly, because its consequences arrive months later.
What it is
The shipping bill is your formal declaration to Indian customs that goods are leaving the country. It is filed electronically on ICEGATE against your IEC and your bank’s AD code.
Once customs grants the Let Export Order against it, the shipment is legally exported. Everything downstream — refunds, incentives, realisation records — keys off that document.
Why the GST refund depends on it
Exports are zero-rated. You either export under a Letter of Undertaking without paying IGST, or you pay IGST and claim it back.
The refund is matched automatically against your shipping bill and your GSTR filings. If the invoice number, value or GSTIN on the shipping bill does not match the return exactly, the refund does not fail loudly — it simply never arrives.
Most "missing" GST refunds are mismatches between the shipping bill and the GST return, not rejections.
The AD code registration nobody mentions
Your bank’s authorised dealer code must be registered at each port you export from, before your first shipment through that port.
A first-time exporter frequently discovers this with cargo already at the terminal. It is a same-week fix and an entirely avoidable delay.
eBRC closes the loop
When payment arrives from your buyer, the bank issues an electronic Bank Realisation Certificate. That is what proves the export was actually paid for.
Unreconciled shipping bills accumulate quietly and cause problems at renewal and audit. We track which of your shipments are still awaiting realisation.
In short
- The shipping bill is filed on ICEGATE against your IEC and AD code.
- GST refunds are matched automatically; mismatches fail silently.
- Register your AD code at each port before shipping through it.
- Reconcile eBRCs as payments arrive, not at audit.
Put this to use
A free Indian address takes under a minute and costs nothing until something ships.