Where Indian granite comes from and which port it ships through
India's dimension-stone industry sits in a handful of states. The Indian Bureau of Mines lists Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat as the main producers of granite in raw and processed form, and names Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Rajasthan as the states whose economies the industry matters most to.[5] The same review notes that the United States is the world's biggest consumer of granite and fills its demand largely from Brazil, China and India.[5]
Each cluster has a natural gateway. The pairing below is geography, not a rule: your freight forwarder books the port that gives the best sailing for the US destination, and inland distance often decides it.
- Rajasthan (Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kishangarh, Udaipur): processed stone moves by rail from inland container depots to the west-coast ports. Jaipur (customs code INKKU6) and Jodhpur (INBGK6) are CONCOR ICDs on JNPA's list of ICD destinations for Nhava Sheva.[6] Boxes also rail to Mundra (INMUN). Airlift's Jaipur and Jodhpur branches arrange the pickup and stuffing; Navi Mumbai and Gandhidham handle the port end.
- Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Ongole, Chimakurthy, Karimnagar, Khammam): the black and colored granite belt. Containers gate in at Chennai (INMAA), Ennore/Kamarajar (INENR), Kattupalli (INKAT) or Krishnapatnam (INKRI). Hyderabad has its own ICDs (Sanat Nagar INSNF6 and Thimmapur INTMX6) for rail moves.[6] Airlift's Hyderabad and Chennai branches cover this belt.
- Tamil Nadu (Madurai, Salem, Krishnagiri): the processing hub for the south, with Chennai for the east-coast services and Tuticorin (INTUT) for the deep south. Airlift's Chennai and Coimbatore branches arrange the trucking and stuffing.
- Karnataka (Bengaluru, Ilkal): Bengaluru's Whitefield ICD (INWFD6) rails boxes to Chennai; truck moves run to Chennai as well.[6] Airlift's Bengaluru branch covers the state.
Is granite free to export from India? Export policy, CAPEXIL and the RCMC
India's export policy is Schedule 2 of the ITC (HS). Goods listed as Free export without a restricted export authorization but subject to any conditions printed against the entry; Restricted goods need a restricted export authorization; Prohibited goods cannot be exported.[2] In the current 8-digit Schedule 2 that DGFT publishes, every tariff item of heading 2515 (marble and travertine) and heading 2516 (granite, sandstone and other monumental or building stone, crude, roughly trimmed or merely sawn into blocks or slabs) is listed Free with no policy condition, and so is every item of heading 6802 (worked stone), including 6802 23 10, granite blocks or tiles.[1] The Restricted entries in Chapter 25 are the sands and soil of heading 2505 (2505 10 11 to 2505 90 00) and 2530 90 99.[1] As of October 15, 2026, we found no DGFT notification adding a condition for granite or rough stone. Check your 8-digit code in DGFT's ITC (HS) export policy lookup before each new product, because the schedule is amended by notification.
The quarry side is state law. Granite is a minor mineral under section 3(e) of the MM(DR) Act, 1957, so quarry leases and transit permits are granted under each state's Minor Mineral Concession Rules, with the Granite Conservation and Development Rules, 1999 as the common framework.[5] A merchant exporter buying slabs from a processor does not hold the lease, but the processor's mineral transit paperwork is what proves the stone was lawfully quarried if anyone asks.
To apply for an export or import authorization under the Foreign Trade Policy, or for any other benefit or concession under it, such as RoDTEP, you need a Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC) from the competent authority, paragraph 2.57 of FTP 2023.[3] Export Promotion Councils are recognized as the registering authorities for their product groups, per paragraph 2.56 of FTP 2023.[3] For natural stone the council is CAPEXIL, set up by the Ministry of Commerce in March 1958, whose product panels include Natural Stones and Products; its RCMC application runs through the DGFT portal.[4] The IEC, AD code, LUT and RCMC guide walks through the registrations in order, and the RoDTEP, drawback and IGST refund guide covers what the RCMC unlocks.
HS codes for granite blocks, slabs, tiles, monuments and engineered quartz
How far the stone is worked decides the heading. The first six digits are the same on your Shipping Bill and your buyer's US entry; the last digits differ. Classification is your customs broker's call in India and your buyer's licensed customs broker's call in the United States; the table shows where each product form usually lands and the US Column 1 rate in the current HTS, 2026 Revision 21, so you can read the import-duty pages with your buyer.[7]
Engineered quartz is not natural stone. It is a slab of crushed silica bound with resin, classified in Chapter 68 (6810.99.00, Free) or Chapter 70 (7020.00.60, 5%), not in 6802, and it carries US trade measures that granite does not; see the next section.[7] Quartzite, the natural rock, is a different product again. If you ship both natural and engineered slabs, keep them on separate lines of the invoice and packing list.
| Product form | HS heading | US Column 1 duty | Airlift duty page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granite blocks, crude or roughly trimmed | 2516.11.00[7] | Free[7] | 2516.11.00 from India |
| Granite merely sawn into rectangular blocks or slabs, no surface work | 2516.12.00[7] | 2.8%[7] | Ask your broker |
| Granite simply cut or sawn with a flat surface, for building or monuments | 6802.23.00[7] | 3.7%[7] | Ask your broker |
| Polished granite slabs, cut-to-size tops, monuments, bases and markers | 6802.93.00 (statistical lines by thickness and use)[7] | 3.7%[7] | 6802.93.00 from India |
| Other worked natural stone (sandstone, quartzite and others), slabs, monuments | 6802.99.00[7] | 6.5%[7] | 6802.99.00 from India |
| Engineered quartz surface products | 6810.99.00 or 7020.00.60[7] | Free or 5%, plus the measures below[7] | 6810.99.00 from India |
What your US buyer pays: Section 301, the quartz safeguard and AD/CVD
US duties are the importer's bill, not yours, but they shape your buyer's price and whether a quote lands. As of October 15, 2026, products of India pay a 10% Section 301 duty on top of the Column 1 rate, on goods entered for consumption on or after July 24, 2026, with exceptions listed in the USTR notice.[8] Our US tariffs on India guide tracks the full stack and its dates; the tariff simulator gives a line-by-line estimate your buyer can check with its broker.
Engineered quartz carries two more layers that natural granite does not. Proclamation 11051 of July 31, 2026 imposed a Section 201 safeguard in the form of a tariff-rate quota on quartz surface products of subheadings 6810.99.0020, 6810.99.0040 and 7020.00.6000, effective for goods entered on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on August 15, 2026, for four years, with the within-quota quantities rising and the duty rates falling in the second, third and fourth years; it applies to imports from all countries except as the proclamation provides, including developing countries below the import-share thresholds it sets.[9] Separately, antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain quartz surface products from India were continued by Commerce with effect from December 18, 2025, and CBP keeps collecting cash deposits at the rates in effect at entry.[10] The orders' scope covers slabs, countertops, vanity tops and tiles of resin-bound silica whether cut or uncut, polished or not, and it expressly does not cover quarried stone such as granite, marble, soapstone or quartzite.[10] We do not quote case rates here; your buyer's broker reads them off the order and the quota status on the entry date.
For granite, the practical point is simpler: the AD/CVD and safeguard questions a US buyer asks about quartz do not apply to natural stone, and a clear description on the invoice ("natural granite, polished slabs") keeps the entry from being queried as quartz. The granite, quartz and marble slabs commodity guide is written for the buyer's side; send it along with your quote.
Why 20-foot containers carry heavy stone: US road weight limits and VGM
Stone is dense, so a container fills by weight long before it fills by volume. Two limits cap the load. The first is the container's own maximum gross mass; payload is that figure less the tare, and the container dimensions tool lists the usual values by type. The second, and usually the binding one, is the road at destination. Federal law limits a commercial vehicle on the US Interstate System to 80,000 lb gross vehicle weight, 20,000 lb on a single axle and 34,000 lb on a tandem axle, with the Bridge Formula lowering the allowance for some axle spacings; states set their own limits on other roads.[11][12] The tractor, the chassis and the container's tare all count toward the 80,000 lb, so the cargo a US trucker can legally carry is well below the container's rated payload, and a 40-foot box filled with slabs would be over the road limit before it was half full by volume.
That is why heavy granite ships in 20-foot containers, often with the weight concentrated low and spread along the floor. Agree the target cargo weight per 20-foot box with your forwarder before you plan bundles; the US trucking leg at the destination city decides it, and the India to USA lane guide explains why the same cargo can be legal to one US city and overweight to another. The container load calculator checks volume, but weight is the number to plan around; thin tiles or small monuments can fill a 40-foot box, thick slabs and blocks almost never do.
Once stuffed, the container needs a verified gross mass (VGM). SOLAS regulation VI/2, as amended by resolution MSC.380(94), has required since July 1, 2016 that the shipper named on the bill of lading state the verified gross mass of a packed container and give it to the carrier and the terminal early enough for the stowage plan; the VGM is a condition for loading.[13] You may weigh the packed container (method 1) or weigh every package, pallet, A-frame, dunnage and lashing material and add the container tare (method 2), using a method certified where the packing is done.[13] For stone, method 1 at a weighbridge on the way to the port is the simplest proof, and the ticket doubles as your record if a weight dispute arises in the United States. See verified gross mass in the glossary.
How to load granite slabs, tiles and blocks in a container
Polished slabs travel standing on edge, leaning on timber A-frames or strapped into bundles with battens between slabs, so that the load is carried on the slab edges and not on the polished faces. Blocks and thick rough slabs sit flat on timber bearers, chocked so they cannot slide. Tiles and cut-to-size pieces go face to face in timber crates with corner protection, stacked on pallets. The one rule that governs all of it is the IMO/ILO/UNECE Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (CTU Code), a non-mandatory global code that covers loading and securing cargo in containers across the whole intermodal chain; your forwarder and the carrier will expect your stuffing to follow it.[14]
Every piece of wood in the box is regulated. The General Notes to Export Policy allow export of goods packed with wood packaging material such as pallets, dunnage, crating, packing blocks, cases, load boards, pallet collars and skids only subject to compliance with the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM).[2] Indian customs requires that wood packaging in export consignments conform to ISPM-15, treated with methyl bromide or forced hot air by providers accredited by the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, and consignments without the ISPM-15 mark or with doubtful marking are referred to the plant quarantine officer.[16] On the US side, APHIS requires regulated wood packaging material to be treated and certified under ISPM 15, and a stamp that is illegible or non-compliant makes the WPM inappropriately marked.[15] Buy A-frames, crates, bearers and dunnage from an accredited treatment provider and photograph the marks; see ISPM-15 in the glossary. APHIS lists plywood, oriented strand board and metal frames among the materials not subject to its wood packaging regulation.[15]
Before stuffing, inspect the container (floor, walls, roof, doors, locking bars) and photograph the empty box with its number visible. Load heavy bundles over the floor cross-members and keep the weight centered side to side and spread along the length; lash A-frames and bundles to the lashing rings with timber bracing or webbing so nothing can shift in a seaway, and fill voids with dunnage. Close, seal, photograph the seal with its number and the container number in one frame, and record the seal number on your packing list and the booking. The factory stuffing, CFS and ICD guide covers who stuffs where and the customs sealing that goes with it; cargo cut-off and container seal are in the glossary.
- Polished slabs: standing on edge on ISPM-15 A-frames or in strapped bundles, battens between faces, edges protected, heaviest bundles centered.
- Blocks and rough slabs (2516): flat on timber bearers, chocked and braced; very large blocks go on flat-rack equipment, which your forwarder books separately.
- Tiles and cut-to-size pieces: face to face in ISPM-15 crates with corner protection, crates strapped to pallets and braced in the box.
- Monuments and memorials: individually crated, with the base down and the polished faces protected; declare them on their own packing-list line because they have their own statistical lines in the HTS.[7]
The Shipping Bill and the documents that are specific to stone
The export declaration is the Shipping Bill, filed electronically on ICEGATE by you or your customs broker (CHA) before the goods are let export; the Shipping Bill and ICEGATE guide covers the filing step by step, and the export documents checklist lists every paper on an India to USA shipment. What changes for stone is the detail your buyer and the US entry need from the invoice and packing list.
Stone is sold by area and shipped by weight, so the packing list has to carry both. List each bundle or crate with its number, the slab count, the slab dimensions and thickness, the area in square meters and square feet, the net and gross weight, and the seal number. Match the invoice lines to the HS heading you declared (natural granite and engineered quartz on separate lines) and describe the stone as natural granite with its color name, so nobody at the US port reads a polished slab as a quartz surface product subject to the orders above.[10] Your buyer's importer security filing needs the shipper, consignee, manufacturer, country of origin and HS codes before the vessel loads, and the US entry runs off the same data; Airlift files the ISF as the NVOCC and arranges the US customs entry through licensed customs brokers.
Two documents are buyer-driven. A quality or inspection certificate (slab grading, thickness tolerance, polish, defect map) is not a government requirement for granite exports, but most US distributors ask for one or send their own inspector before stuffing; agree the form in the purchase order. A certificate of origin is a buyer-side document: provide one when the buyer, its bank or the letter of credit calls for it, and mark the country of origin on the invoice and packing list in every case. Keep the quarry or processor's mineral transit documents, the ISPM-15 treatment certificate and the weighbridge ticket in the shipment file.
| Product form | HS heading | Container | Packaging | Key document |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rough or roughly trimmed granite blocks | 2516.11.00[7] | 20-foot, weight-capped by US road limits[11]; flat rack for oversize blocks | Timber bearers and chocks, ISPM-15 treated[2] | Shipping Bill plus quarry transit permit copy; VGM record[13] |
| Sawn blocks and rough slabs | 2516.12.00[7] | 20-foot | Flat on bearers, braced | Packing list by block with dimensions and weight |
| Polished slabs | 6802.93.00 (granite) or 6802.99.00 (other stone)[7] | 20-foot, bundles or A-frames | ISPM-15 A-frames or strapped bundles, battens, edge protection[16] | Packing list by bundle: slab count, area, thickness, gross weight, seal number |
| Tiles and cut-to-size tops | 6802.93.00 or 6802.99.00[7] | 20-foot; 40-foot possible for thin tiles | ISPM-15 crates on pallets, face to face, corner protection | Packing list by crate; buyer's inspection certificate if the PO asks |
| Monuments, bases and markers | 6802.93.00 or 6802.99.00, own statistical lines[7] | 20-foot | Individual crates, base down | Packing list per piece; drawings if the buyer supplied them |
| Engineered quartz slabs | 6810.99.00 or 7020.00.60[7] | 20-foot, bundles or A-frames | As for polished slabs | Invoice line separate from natural stone; buyer's broker handles the safeguard quota and AD/CVD deposit[9][10] |
Small stone orders: LCL or a part-filled 20-foot container?
A sample order of a few slabs or a single monument does not fill a box. LCL consolidation is available on the India to USA lane, and it works for crated tiles, small monuments and samples; it is a poor fit for loose slab bundles, which are heavy, fragile on the edges and handled by forklift twice more than in an FCL move. For slabs, a part-filled 20-foot container with the bundles braced across the floor is often the safer choice even when the volume is small. Compare the two in the LCL vs FCL from India guide and the lane guide's LCL section; Airlift arranges both FCL ocean freight and LCL consolidation from its Indian branches.
Whichever you choose, the documents and the ISPM-15 rule are the same; the chargeable basis differs (per container for FCL; LCL is typically charged on the greater of volume and weight, which counts against dense stone). Ask for both in your quote request.
Breakage, damage and claims: the records that protect you
Stone claims are almost always chipped edges and corners, slabs cracked across the face, or a bundle that shifted and fell. Liability for a sealed container turns on what can be proved about the condition at stuffing and at opening, so the exporter's photographs are the evidence that decides the claim. Photograph the empty container inside and out with the number visible, each bundle or crate as it is loaded showing the lashing, the closed doors with the seal and container number in one frame, and the weighbridge ticket. Keep the ISPM-15 certificate and the packing list with seal number in the same file.
Ask your buyer to do the mirror image at destination: photograph the seal before it is cut and the load before anything is moved, note any damage on the delivery receipt and tell Airlift's US office at once so a survey can be arranged before the slabs are moved to the fabricator's racks. Notice periods under the bill of lading are short, and claims against the carrier are limited by its terms, so a marine cargo insurance policy taken out for the shipment, which pays regardless of whose fault the damage was, is the realistic protection for high-value slabs; your insurer sets its terms. Nothing in this section replaces the advice of your insurer or lawyer on a specific loss.