Shipping Bill vs Bill of Entry: The Difference
Both are customs declarations, both are filed electronically, both carry an invoice, a value and a tariff heading. Everything else about them points in opposite directions, starting with which way the goods and the money are travelling.
The difference in one paragraph
A shipping bill is the declaration an exporter files before goods leave India, required by section 50 of the Customs Act, 1962. A bill of entry is the declaration an importer files to bring goods into India, required by section 46 of the same Act. The shipping bill is how an export starts; the bill of entry is how an import starts. They are not variants of each other and neither can stand in for the other.
Side by side
- Direction. Shipping bill, export. Bill of entry, import.
- Who files. The exporter, or a licensed customs broker authorised by them. The importer, or a licensed customs broker authorised by them.
- Which section. Section 50 of the Customs Act, 1962 for the shipping bill and the bill of export. Section 46 for the bill of entry.
- What clears it. An order under section 51(1) permitting clearance and loading for exportation, the Let Export Order, or under section 69 where warehoused goods are being exported. For imports, an order under section 47 permitting clearance for home consumption.
- Which regulations. The Shipping Bill (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations, 2019 for exports; the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations, 2018 for imports.
- Timing. A shipping bill is presented before the goods are cleared and loaded for export. A bill of entry runs on a statutory clock tied to the arrival of the carrying vessel, aircraft or vehicle, and late presentation carries prescribed charges.
- Which land counterpart. Goods leaving by land are declared on a bill of export rather than a shipping bill. There is no equivalent split on the import side.
- Money direction. A shipping bill expects an inward remittance. A bill of entry expects an outward remittance.
- Which monitoring system. Shipping bill data feeds the RBI's EDPMS. Bill of entry data feeds the RBI's IDPMS.
Who files, and when
On the export side, section 50 requires the exporter to make entry by presenting a shipping bill electronically on the customs automated system, and to subscribe to a declaration as to the truth of its contents. The 2019 regulations add that the authorised person, which means the exporter or a customs broker holding a valid licence, enters the declaration and uploads supporting documents on ICEGATE under a digital signature. The bill is deemed filed and self assessment complete once a shipping bill number is generated.
On the import side, section 46 requires the importer to make entry by presenting a bill of entry for home consumption or warehousing, electronically on the customs automated system. Section 46(3) then fixes when. The bill of entry is presented before the end of the day, including holidays, preceding the day on which the aircraft, vessel or vehicle carrying the goods arrives at the customs station where the goods are to be cleared. The Board may prescribe different time limits, which cannot run later than the end of the day of arrival, and a bill of entry may be presented at any time up to thirty days before expected arrival. Where it is late without sufficient cause, charges for late presentation are payable as prescribed: the customs regulations set them at rupees five thousand a day for the first three days of default and rupees ten thousand a day for each day after that, and the proper officer may waive them where satisfied with the reasons for the delay.
What each one triggers downstream
This is where the two documents genuinely part company, and it is the part that matters to a finance desk rather than a logistics desk.
The shipping bill starts an export monitoring entry
Shipping bill data is integrated with the RBI's Export Data Processing and Monitoring System, EDPMS. The RBI Master Direction on Export of Goods and Services says so in as many words, and notes that this is why the exchange control copy of the shipping bill is no longer printed. The entry stays open until your authorised dealer bank matches the foreign payment against the bill: the remittance on one side, the shipping bill on the other, with any differences named. The full mechanism is in EDPMS closure, explained.
The bill of entry starts an import monitoring entry
The import side has its own mirror, the RBI's Import Data Processing and Monitoring System, IDPMS, which went live on 10 October 2016. The plumbing is the same shape: bill of entry data is received in IDPMS from the Customs Department for EDI ports and from NSDL for SEZ, on a daily basis, and for non-EDI ports the importer's AD bank uploads it through a manual bill of entry reporting process. The entry closes when the bank can tie the money your company sent abroad to goods that actually arrived.
One neat symmetry worth noticing: customs modified the bill of entry format to display the bank's AD code, exactly as the shipping bill carries an Authorised Dealer code. On both sides of the trade, the AD code is how a bank finds its own transactions in a national ledger.
Only one of them produces a realisation certificate
An eBRC certifies that a payment was realised against a specific export. The export it points at is a shipping bill, or for services an invoice or SOFTEX. A bill of entry can never sit behind an eBRC, because a bill of entry describes money leaving the country, not arriving. If someone asks you for an eBRC and hands you a bill of entry, one of you is looking at the wrong shipment.
Which one an eBRC is built from
For goods exports, the certificate is generated by mapping a realised inward remittance to the shipping bill it settles. The shipping bill number and date are the reference the certificate carries, which is exactly why the fields on that bill, the Authorised Dealer code, the invoice number, the currency and the declared deductions, decide whether the mapping is a two minute job or a three week correspondence. The full anatomy is in what a shipping bill is, and the mapping itself in how to generate an eBRC. With the bill's PDF in front of you, the free shipping bill extractor reads those fields into a CSV, with no sign-up.
Service exporters have no shipping bill at all and map against the invoice or SOFTEX instead. That path is in eBRC for freelancers and service exporters.
If the mapping is the part your desk keeps postponing, it is worth knowing it does not have to run through a portal session at all. The eBRC exporter app holds remittances, mappings and certificates in one exportable ledger, and a free account pulls your remittances in on their own, with certificates usually back in about two hours.
Common mix-ups worth naming
- "Send me the BOE for my export." There is no bill of entry for an export. The document wanted is the shipping bill, or a bill of export if the goods went by land.
- "The shipping bill number is on the bill of lading." They are different numbers from different parties. A bill of lading is a carrier's document; a shipping bill is a customs declaration.
- "Customs cleared it, so the export is complete." Clearance under section 51 completes the customs event. The export is complete for foreign exchange purposes only when the proceeds are realised and matched.
- "We import and export, so one registration covers both." The registration is one, the Importer Exporter Code, but the AD code registration is per port and the declarations, portals screens and downstream monitoring systems are separate.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a shipping bill and a bill of entry?
A shipping bill is the export declaration filed under section 50 of the Customs Act, 1962 before goods leave India. A bill of entry is the import declaration filed under section 46 to bring goods into India. One is filed by the exporter, the other by the importer, and they clear under different sections, section 51 or 69 for exports and section 47 for imports.
Is a bill of entry used for exports?
No. Exports are declared on a shipping bill for goods leaving by vessel or aircraft, and on a bill of export for goods leaving by land. A bill of entry applies only to goods being imported.
Can an eBRC be generated from a bill of entry?
No. An eBRC certifies that an inward payment was realised against a specific export, so it is built from a shipping bill, or for service exports from the invoice or SOFTEX. A bill of entry records an import, which involves money going out rather than coming in.
Who files a shipping bill and who files a bill of entry?
The exporter files the shipping bill and the importer files the bill of entry. Either can be filed by a customs broker holding a valid licence and authorised by them, and in both cases the declaration is entered electronically on the customs automated system.
What is the deadline for filing a bill of entry?
Section 46(3) of the Customs Act requires it before the end of the day, including holidays, preceding the day on which the carrying aircraft, vessel or vehicle arrives at the customs station where the goods are to be cleared, and it may be presented up to thirty days before expected arrival. Where it is late without sufficient cause, the prescribed charges are rupees five thousand a day for the first three days of default and rupees ten thousand a day for each day after that, and the proper officer may waive them where satisfied with the reasons.