Metal scrap imports into India: PSIC, designated ports and the radiation regime

Which metal scrap codes can be imported freely into India?

Fifteen ITC(HS) lines carry Free import status for metallic scrap, spanning ferrous, copper, nickel, aluminium, zinc, tin and titanium. Getting the line right is the first booking decision, because everything downstream (inspection, port choice, radiation evidence) hangs off whether the consignment is metallic scrap at all.

Separately, hazardous waste listed in Schedule VI of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules 2016 is Prohibited notwithstanding the ITC(HS) entry. In other words, a Free tariff line does not cure a Schedule VI classification; the environmental prohibition sits on top of the trade policy and wins.

When is a pre-shipment inspection certificate required, and when is it not?

This is the most commercially significant rule on the page, and it is doubly conditional. Scrap (shredded and un-shredded alike) originating in the USA, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia or the EU needs no PSIC, provided both of the following hold:

Both conditions must be satisfied

• Port condition. The consignment is cleared at one of eight ports: Chennai, Tuticorin, Kandla, JNPT, Mumbai, Krishnapatnam, Mundra or Kattupalli.
• Certificate condition. It is accompanied by a certificate from the supplier or the scrap yard confirming that the consignment contains no radioactive material and no explosives.
• And it remains subject to radiation portal monitor and container scanner checks at the port of clearance. The exemption removes the pre-shipment certificate, not the screening.

Where the exemption does not apply, the importer must furnish the PSIC to Customs at the time of clearance together with a copy of the contract stipulating that no radioactive contaminated material of any kind is included in the consignment (Para 2.51). Note the conjunction: the certificate alone is not the filing. Customs wants the contractual stipulation alongside it, which means the clause has to be in the sale contract before the goods are inspected, not retrofitted afterwards.

Two named foreign ports carry a separate restriction of their own: Hodaideh in Yemen and Bandar Abbas in Iran are restricted to shredded scrap only. Un-shredded material lifted from either is outside the permitted channel however it is certified.

Worked example: one booking, three outcomes

An Indian re-roller contracts 500 MT of un-shredded ferrous scrap under ITC(HS) 72044900. The same tonnage, three different booking decisions:

1. A Origin Germany, discharge Mundra EU origin and Mundra is one of the eight exemption ports. No PSIC needed. The importer must still hold the supplier or scrap-yard certificate of no radioactive material and no explosives, and the container still passes the portal monitor and scanner at Mundra.
2. B Origin Germany, discharge Paradip Paradip is a designated sea port for un-shredded scrap, so the material may be landed there. But Paradip is not on the eight-port exemption list. A PSIC from a recognised agency is required, plus the contract copy with the no-radioactive-contaminated-material stipulation. The inspection has to be arranged in Germany before loading; it cannot be cured at Paradip.
3. C Origin Turkey, consolidated in Rotterdam, discharge Mundra No exemption. The scrap originates in Turkey; Rotterdam is routing, not origin. A PSIC is required, and the agency that issues it must have Turkey inside its notified area of operation under Appendix 2G. Booking this as if it were scenario A is the single most common way a scrap importer arrives at the port without a certificate it cannot now obtain.

Which ports can receive un-shredded scrap, and why does it matter?

Eighteen designated sea ports handle un-shredded, compressed or loose scrap, and there is no exemption for Export Oriented Units or units in Special Economic Zones: Chennai, Cochin, Ennore, JNPT, Kandla, Mormugao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam, Pipavav, Mundra, Kolkata, Krishnapatnam, Kattupalli, Hazira and Kamarajar. Sea ports only.

A port does not become designated by being large. It qualifies only after it installs Radiation Portal Monitors and a Container Scanner with the associated security arrangements, passes inspection by the jurisdictional Customs authority, obtains certification from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and is then notified by DGFT. Ports already on the list were given until 30.09.2021 to comply, failing which they stood derecognised with effect from 01.10.2021. Which is why the designated list is shorter than the list of ports that physically handle bulk cargo.

Who is allowed to issue a PSIC and how is an agency recognised?

Only a Pre-Shipment Inspection Agency recognised by DGFT. An inspection report from a reputable but unrecognised surveyor is not a PSIC, whatever the letterhead says.

Recognition runs under HBP Para 2.52. The agency applies online at dgft.gov.in with the fee prescribed in Appendix 2K, an Inter-Ministerial Committee decides the application, and a successful agency is notified in Appendix 2G for three years. At the end of the term a fresh application is required. There is no renewal mechanism, so an agency you used two years ago may simply have fallen off the list.

There is a narrower allowance for inspection in a country where the agency has no full-time, equipped branch office but which falls inside its notified area of operation. That is permitted only with prior intimation by email and with the details of the visit recorded in the PSIC itself. If your certificate is silent on this and the agency has no local office, the certificate is exposed.

On the application mechanics: an agency may file without the bank guarantee at serial 9 of ANF-2L, and the absence of the guarantee at filing is not a ground for rejection. But notification in Appendix 2G is blocked until the guarantee lands. So an agency can truthfully say its application is pending and not rejected while still being unable to issue a valid PSIC.

What evidence must the inspection agency capture before your container sails?

Under Para 2.53 the PSIA generates and uploads the PSIC online after the inspection, uploading video and photographic evidence during the process along with an attested PDF. The certificate is not a standalone document; it is the visible output of an evidence file, and an incomplete evidence file makes the certificate worthless at clearance.

The mandatory photograph set is specific enough that it is worth sending to your supplier verbatim before the inspection is scheduled, because the supplier controls the yard, the container and the sealing.

What exactly does a PSIC certify, and what should an importer check on it?

The Appendix 2H format requires the agency to certify that the goods are metallic scrap, seconds or defectives conforming to internationally accepted parameters, and that they carry no ionizing-radiation symbol and no UN Class 7 dangerous-goods marking. Those two negatives are the substance of the certificate; everything else on the form supports them.

What instruments and qualifications must the agency hold, and who carries the liability?

ANF-2L requires three mandatory instrument classes, each declared with make, model, unique number, photographs showing that unique number, and purchase invoices: hand-held radiation survey meters, a radio nuclide identifier, and an explosives detection system covering liquid, plastic, powder, particulate, solid, metallic and non-metallic material.

Certificates from different agencies quote readings in different units, which makes comparison harder than it should be. The conversion chain to keep on hand:

The inspector minimum qualification under ANF-2L is 10+2 or Senior High School with science including physics and chemistry. Agencies must also declare their memberships (IFIA London, ISRI Washington DC, the Bureau of International Recycling in Belgium, the Metal Recycling Association of India) five years of scrap inspected broken down by exporting and destination country, manpower details with passport scans, and any debarment or judicial proceedings against the agency or its personnel.

Liability, in order of who it lands on

• Bank guarantee. Stated in ANF-2L as INR 10 lakh or USD 25, furnished by the agency as a condition of notification in Appendix 2G.
• Agency penalty. The ANF-2L penalty declaration provides for INR 10 lakh in India or USD 20,000 abroad, plus forfeiture of the bank guarantee and suspension or cancellation of recognition, if a consignment turns out not to be scrap or to contain prohibited items.
• Mis-declaration. A false statement in a PSIC, or in the recognition application itself, draws penal action under the FT(D&R) Act.
• Importer and exporter. Jointly and severally responsible for the material matching the PSIC declaration.

Scrap import compliance checklist

In booking order

• Confirm the ITC(HS) line is one of the fifteen freely importable scrap codes, and that nothing in the load touches the blanket bar or Schedule VI.
• Confirm origin , not routing, for the six-country PSIC exemption. Trans-shipment through an exempt country does not qualify.
• If relying on the exemption, book clearance at one of the eight named ports and obtain the supplier or scrap-yard certificate of no radioactive material and no explosives.
• If the scrap is un-shredded, compressed or loose, book one of the eighteen designated sea ports. Or an ICD routed through one whose monitors and scanners are operating. EOU and SEZ status buys no exemption.
• Verify the inspection agency on the portal's Approved PSIA List and confirm your origin country falls inside its notified area of operation.
• Brief the supplier on the six-part mandatory photograph set before the inspection is scheduled, including the single-frame instrument-and-seal shot.
• Ensure the sale contract carries the no-radioactive-contaminated-material stipulation. Customs wants it alongside the PSIC at clearance.
• Download and validate the PSIC through the public Download PSIC service before the vessel sails.
• Keep the radiation readings, seal numbers and container numbers reconciled across the PSIC, the photographs and the bill of lading.

What else do importers ask about scrap PSIC and ports?

Which metal scrap ITC(HS) codes are freely importable into India?

Fifteen lines: 72041000, 72042190, 72042920, 72042990, 72043000, 72044100, 72044900, 72045000, 74040012, 74040022, 75030010, 76020010, 79020010, 80020010 and 81042010, covering ferrous, copper, nickel, aluminium, zinc, tin and titanium scrap. Free status is subject to an absolute bar that overrides the code. No hazardous, toxic or radioactive waste, no arms, ammunition, mines, shells, live or used cartridges, and no explosives. Hazardous waste in Schedule VI of the Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules 2016 is Prohibited notwithstanding the ITC(HS) entry.

Do I need a PSIC for scrap imported from the USA or the EU?

Not if two conditions are both met. Scrap, shredded or un-shredded, originating in the USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia or the EU is exempt provided it is cleared at one of eight ports (Chennai, Tuticorin, Kandla, JNPT, Mumbai, Krishnapatnam, Mundra or Kattupalli) and carries a certificate from the supplier or scrap yard confirming no radioactive material and no explosives, subject to portal monitor and scanner checks at the port. Origin is what counts, not routing: trans-shipment through an exempt country does not qualify, and clearance at any other designated port triggers a PSIC regardless of origin.

Which Indian ports can receive un-shredded metal scrap?

Eighteen designated sea ports, with no exemption for EOUs or SEZ units: Chennai, Cochin, Ennore, JNPT, Kandla, Mormugao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam, Pipavav, Mundra, Kolkata, Krishnapatnam, Kattupalli, Hazira and Kamarajar. A port qualifies only after installing Radiation Portal Monitors and a Container Scanner, passing jurisdictional Customs inspection, obtaining AERB certification and being notified by DGFT; ports that had not complied by 30.09.2021 stood derecognised from 01.10.2021. ICDs may handle un-shredded scrap if the consignment is routed through a designated sea port whose monitors and scanners are operating, subject to risk-based scanning.

How do I check whether a pre-shipment inspection agency is recognised for my supplier's country?

Recognition is country-scoped. Each Appendix 2G entry lists a specific area or region of operation, so an agency recognised for the UAE cannot certify a consignment from Vietnam. Check the agency against the Approved PSIA List on the DGFT portal rather than the static Appendix 2G file, which carries entries already expired on its face, and confirm your supplier's country sits inside the notified area. Recognition runs three years with no renewal. A fresh application is required at the end of the term.

Who is liable if a scrap consignment does not match the pre-shipment inspection certificate?

The importer and the exporter are jointly and severally responsible for the material matching the PSIC declaration. Outsourcing the inspection does not outsource the liability. On the agency side, ANF-2L provides for INR 10 lakh in India or USD 20,000 abroad plus forfeiture of the bank guarantee and suspension or cancellation of recognition if a consignment turns out not to be scrap or to contain prohibited items, and mis-declaration in a PSIC or in the recognition application draws penal action under the FT(D&R) Act.

Update history

• 2026-08-13 First published.