Certificate of Origin

A Certificate of Origin certifies that goods being exported originate from India, often required by the importing country's customs authority and to claim preferential tariff treatment under trade agreements India has signed with various countries.

Certificates of Origin exist because customs duty, quota, and trade-remedy treatment often depend on where a good was actually made, not just where it was shipped from — the certificate gives the importing country's customs authority a documented, third-party-attested basis to apply the correct tariff and trade-policy treatment to the consignment.

The distinction between preferential and non-preferential certificates matters commercially: a preferential Certificate of Origin, issued against the specific rules of origin criteria under a Free Trade Agreement or Preferential Trade Agreement India has signed (such as with ASEAN, various bilateral partners, or SAFTA), can directly reduce or eliminate the import duty your overseas buyer pays — making your goods more price-competitive without you lowering your invoice value. A non-preferential certificate simply attests Indian origin without any tariff benefit attached, and is commonly requested for customs clearance or documentary compliance even where no trade agreement applies.

Because the certificate is issued per shipment rather than held as a standing registration, exporters who ship regularly typically set up a repeatable documentation flow with their issuing agency (a chamber of commerce, or the relevant Export Promotion Council for FTA-linked certificates) so each new consignment's certificate can be turned around quickly without re-establishing origin credentials from scratch each time.