Duty: plan on about 47.5% of CIF before logistics
Customs duty on imported furniture is charged on the CIF value, which is the price of the goods plus insurance and sea freight to the Indian port. As of September 2026, basic customs duty is 20% and AIDC is 5%, both on CIF. IGST at 18% is then charged on the CIF value plus those two duties. On ₹100 of CIF value, that is ₹20 BCD, ₹5 AIDC and ₹22.50 IGST, a total of ₹47.50. Budget 2026 made no change to these rates. This ₹47.50 does not include the clearing agent's fee, port and container freight station charges, road transport from the port to your home, insurance for the last leg, or anything broken on the way. A GST-registered business may be able to claim the IGST as input tax credit; a homeowner buying for personal use generally cannot. Rates change, so confirm the current tariff with a licensed customs broker before you pay a deposit.
BIS: which pieces now need a licence
The Furniture (Quality Control) Order 2025, S.O. 801(E) of February 2025, covers six categories. They are work chairs (IS 17631:2022), general-purpose chairs and stools (IS 17632:2022), tables and desks (IS 17633:2022), storage units (IS 17634:2022), beds (IS 17635:2022) and bunk beds (IS 17636:2022). Covered products need a BIS licence under Scheme-I and must carry the ISI mark. The order took effect on 14 February 2026 for medium and large enterprises and in mid-August 2026 for micro and small enterprises; sources differ on 13 or 14 August. The licence belongs to the manufacturer, so a Chinese factory without one cannot legally supply a covered bed or dining table into India. Static sofas, settees and reclining seats reportedly fall outside IS 17632; confirm against the standard. Check the current notification on egazette.gov.in or bis.gov.in before ordering.
Freight, transit time and damage
Container freight rates and transit times have been volatile through 2025–26. There is no published China-to-India freight index, so the quote you get from a forwarder is the only number that matters, and it can change between order and shipment. Upholstered furniture is bulky, so you pay to ship a lot of air inside cartons. Every handling point adds risk: factory to consolidation warehouse, warehouse to port, port to vessel, vessel to Indian port, container freight station to truck, truck to your building. Damage found after delivery is hard to claim, because the seller is abroad and the transit insurance may only cover total loss unless you bought wider cover. Ask your forwarder in writing what the insurance covers and how a claim is made.
After-sales: the cost nobody quotes
The most common problems Indian buyers report with furniture are delivery slipping past the promised date, damage or pieces that do not look as pictured, cushions sagging within months, and slow warranty repairs. With a direct import, each of these becomes your problem to solve. The Chinese factory will not send a technician to Mumbai. Replacing a recliner mechanism, a motor, a cushion insert or a fabric panel means sourcing a part that may not exist in India, or shipping a replacement with duty paid again. A local upholsterer can often fix foam or fabric, but electrical and mechanism faults on unfamiliar hardware are harder. Before importing, decide who in India will service the piece, and budget for it. Ask the seller or agent for the model number of every mechanism and motor, so a technician has something to search for later.
When importing can make sense, and when it does not
Importing can make sense when the order is large enough to fill or nearly fill a container, when the categories are outside the Furniture QCO or the manufacturer holds a valid BIS licence, when you have an agent on the ground to inspect before loading, and when you have months of slack in your move-in date. Hospitality and commercial projects sometimes meet these conditions; note that non-domestic upholstered furniture is also subject to a separate fire-retardant upholstery order under IS 15768. Importing rarely makes sense for a single sofa, a mixed room of pieces from several factories, anything covered by the QCO from an unlicensed factory, or motorised furniture after 1 October 2026 without clear certification of the finished product. For those, a seller in India who puts specification, date and warranty in writing usually carries less total risk.