Ever heard of High Sea sales?

[Pradeep Reddy]

It’s a strategic approach for importers in India, yet many businesses—especially traders—are missing out on it.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:

✅ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 1: ABC India imports goods from ABC USA.

✅ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 2: While the goods are still in transit (before crossing Indian customs), ABC India sells them to a final customer in India.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿?

📦 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝘀 𝗗𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲:
The final customer pays customs duty based on their purchase price, not the cost ABC India originally paid.

💡 𝗚𝗦𝗧 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
Since the goods haven’t crossed the customs frontier, GST isn’t applicable on the sale between ABC India and the final customer. GST is charged only once—during customs clearance—and paid by the final customer.

🗂️ 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱:

📑 High Sea Sales agreement mentioning all parties.

🧾 Invoices from both ABC USA to ABC India and ABC India to the final customer.

📦 Bill of lading, packing list, certificate of origin, and insurance documents.

⚠️ 𝗔 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱:

The final customer will gain visibility into 𝗔𝗕𝗖 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻 since they will see both the original and resale invoices. This transparency could impact pricing negotiations in future transactions.

When structured carefully, though, 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 can be a powerful tool for optimizing tax efficiency and simplifying compliance. ✅

Have you explored this strategy for your imports?