Import General Manifest (IGM): Meaning, Filing & How to Check

What Is an Import General Manifest (IGM)?

An Import General Manifest is the carrier's declaration to customs of everything on board a vessel or aircraft arriving at an Indian port. The shipping line, airline, or its agent files it. It lists every consignment on the vessel, not just yours.

The legal basis is Section 30 of the Customs Act, 1962, which requires the manifest to be presented electronically before arrival. The filer signs a declaration that the contents are true, which is why errors need a formal amendment later, not a phone call.

Each line carries the details that customs needs to identify cargo: BL or Airway Bill number, packages, weight, container and seal number, goods description and HS code, ports of loading and discharge, and the consignee, shipper, and notify party.

Take a shipment of machine parts moving from Hamburg to Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The vessel is carrying several hundred consignments, and the shipping line files a single IGM covering all of them. Your container appears as one line on that manifest, tied to your BL number.

This matters because cargo that isn't on the manifest cannot legally be unloaded, under Section 32. Once the IGM receives its number, your shipment is formally with customs, and your Bill of Entry is filed against that number.

Why Is an Import General Manifest Important?

The IGM is important because it registers your cargo in the customs system, acts as a cross-check against your shipping documents, determines your duty liability, drives port and safety operations, and links every party to the same consignment. Here's what each of those means in practice:

Save 50% on every international transfer

Receive from 150+ countries

Get global accounts

Zero forex margin

Sign up

Who Files an Import General Manifest?

The IGM is filed by the carrier, or by whoever is authorised to issue the delivery order for your cargo. Who that is depends on how your goods are shipped:

This split is also where the two types of manifest part ways. A Line IGM is filed by the shipping line for a full container moving under its own Bill of Lading. A Console IGM covers consolidated cargo: say your two pallets share a container with goods belonging to five other buyers, the forwarder who built that consolidated shipment files the house-level detail, which sits under the shipping line's master manifest.

This matters when something needs fixing. On an FCL shipment, you go to the shipping line. On an LCL shipment, the line will tell you the console isn't theirs, and only your forwarder can amend the line carrying your name. The shipping line only knows the container as a whole. Your forwarder is the one holding the details of what belongs to whom inside it.

On timing, the manifest is filed before the vessel arrives, but the deadline that actually affects you is much earlier. Under the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations, 2018, the cargo declaration has to be submitted before the vessel leaves its last port of call, and carriers like Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd typically ask customers for the underlying data around 72 hours before that sailing. In other words, the window to correct your consignee details cheaply closes while your cargo is still on the other side of the ocean.

Late filing without sufficient cause attracts a penalty of up to ₹50,000 under Section 30. The bigger costs usually show up elsewhere: vessel detention, clearance delays, and demurrage.

What is the Format of an Import General Manifest?

[Image 1: writer to upload via Strapi Media Library]

An Import General Manifest is built around three groups of fields: transport and vessel details, cargo information, and stakeholder details. It's filed electronically to ICEGATE in a fixed data format under SCMTR (the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations), so the manifest your CHA shows you on screen is just a readable view of that underlying data. Here's what each group holds.

Transport and vessel details

This covers the vessel name, its IMO or registration number, and the Voyage Call Number (VCN), which is the reference the port assigns to that specific voyage. The carrier cannot start filing without the VCN. Also in this group: the rotation number, ETA, port of loading, and port of discharge.

One thing to watch here. If your Bill of Lading says Hamburg to Jawaharlal Nehru Port but the vessel transships at Colombo, the manifest for your cargo is filed against the vessel that actually arrives at Nhava Sheva, not the one that left Germany.

Cargo information

This is the shipment-level detail:

The HS code matters most here, because it decides what duty you pay. If your supplier described the goods loosely and the forwarder assigned a code based on that description, customs assesses your cargo against a classification nobody on your side ever checked.

Stakeholder details

This group identifies everyone involved: your name and address as consignee, which must match your customs registration exactly, along with the shipper's name and address, the notify party, and your CHA and freight forwarder.

Since SCMTR, it also carries your IEC (or your PAN if you don't have an IEC), plus the PAN of the notify party. This is how the system recognises you, and how your AEO status (a customs trusted-trader accreditation that speeds up clearance) gets applied. It's also the group most often copied over from an old shipment.

Say your company moved offices last year and updated its registration. Your supplier's shipping instructions still carry the old address, so the manifest goes in with it. Nothing looks wrong until your CHA tries to file the Bill of Entry and the consignee details don't match.

Save 50% on every international transfer

Receive from 150+ countries

Get global accounts

Zero forex margin

Sign up

How to File an Import General Manifest on ICEGATE?

An IGM is filed on ICEGATE in five steps: get the Voyage Call Number from the port, file the cargo details, file the arrival manifest before the vessel leaves its last port, pass ICEGATE's error check, and receive the IGM number. Only registered carriers can file it, so this isn't something you do yourself, but knowing the sequence tells you where your shipment can get stuck and who to call when it does.

To do any of this, the carrier needs an ICEGATE ID and a separate SCMTR registration.

Checking your IGM without a login

You don't need an ICEGATE account to check whether your manifest has been filed. Guest access covers the basics, and you only need to log in with your credentials or a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) if you want container-level data or specific customs remarks.

The port code and either the IGM number or B/L number are mandatory. The IGM date is optional, but adding the vessel's expected arrival date speeds up the lookup.

If a record shows up, you'll see the IGM number, your line item, container and seal numbers, cargo description, and any customs remarks. If nothing comes up, either the carrier hasn't filed yet, or they've filed against a Bill of Lading number that doesn't match the one you're holding.

Check on the day the vessel sails from its last port, not the day it arrives. A missing record at that point is a phone call to your forwarder. The same missing record on arrival day is demurrage.

For what each status code means and how to fix a mismatch or hold, see our full guide on Sea IGM tracking on ICEGATE.

Gateway IGM

If your cargo lands at a major port but is headed for an inland customs station, it gets manifested twice. Say a container arrives at Nhava Sheva but clears at an ICD near Delhi. There's one filing at the port, and a second one for the inland leg.

Your CHA files the Bill of Entry against the inland filing, not the gateway one. This catches people out: they check the port code instead of the inland one, find nothing, and assume the manifest was never filed.

IGM vs EGM: What are the Differences?

The export general manifest declares what's leaving; the import general manifest declares what's arriving. One shipment generates both, filed by carriers in two different countries to two different customs authorities.

For a container moving from Hamburg to Nhava Sheva, German customs receives the export-side manifest, and Indian customs receives the IGM. When you export from India, the roles flip: your carrier files the departure manifest with Indian customs under Section 41 of the Customs Act, and the buyer's carrier files the import manifest at the destination.

Together, they close the loop. Indian customs uses the IGM to cross-check what physically arrived against your commercial invoice, packing list, and Bill of Lading. If the manifest says 12 pallets and your invoice says 14, that's the check catching it.

The terminology has changed. SCMTR renamed the EGM. It's now split into two filings: the Sea Departure Manifest, filed before the vessel leaves the Indian port, and the Sea Departure Notification, filed after it sails. In everyday conversation everyone still says EGM, and ICEGATE still shows the older term in places, but the newer names are what you'll see referenced on your shipping bill.

Save 50% on every international transfer

Receive from 150+ countries

Get global accounts

Zero forex margin

Sign up

IGM vs Bill of Entry: Key Differences

The IGM is the carrier's list of everything on the vessel; the Bill of Entry is your claim on one line of that list. They differ on who files, when, and what each one does: the carrier files the IGM to declare all cargo to customs, while you or your CHA file the Bill of Entry to claim your shipment, declare the duty, and request release.

That's the cleanest way to hold the distinction. The manifest declares. The Bill of Entry asks for release, names the duty, and puts your signature under a declaration of truth. It carries the port code, CHA code, your IEC, your name and address, and the classification on which duty is assessed.

The sequence has changed

The old rule of thumb was to wait for the IGM number and then file. That hasn't been true since 2021. Section 46 now requires the Bill of Entry to be filed before the end of the day preceding arrival, and it can be filed up to 30 days before the vessel is expected. Filing late without sufficient cause attracts charges that escalate by the day.

CBIC also removed the Master BL requirement for advance filing. You can file on the strength of the House BL alone, then update the Master BL afterwards through an online amendment that auto-approves without an officer and without late fees. That amendment is what links your Bill of Entry to the arrival manifest.

So the practical position is the reverse of what it appears to be. You aren't waiting on the manifest to start. You're filing ahead and reconciling to the manifest when it lands.

What doesn't change

The matching still has to hold: consignee name, BL number, package count, weight, and description. A mismatch between the two documents halts clearance, and fixing it means amending the wrong document, which usually isn't yours.

What Are Common Import General Manifest Errors and How to Fix Them?

Most manifest errors are typing errors with expensive consequences. They come from data that traveled through three or four hands before reaching the carrier's filing system: your purchase order to your supplier, your supplier's shipping instructions to the forwarder, the forwarder's house BL, and the carrier's manifest.

The ones that surface most often:

Fixing them

Amendments are provided for. Section 30(3) permits the proper officer to permit a manifest to be amended where it's incorrect or incomplete and there was no fraudulent intent; SCMTR carries the same provision for arrival manifests. But the amendment isn't yours to file. You raise it with the carrier or forwarder who filed the line, they submit the request to customs at the port, and customs approves or doesn't. Carriers make it clear that post-filing amendments require customs approval and may incur fines.

The practical route, in order: pull the IGM inquiry against your Master BL, screenshot what's actually filed, send it to your CHA and forwarder together with the correct detail, and ask the forwarder to raise the amendment with the port. Expect it to take days, not hours. Cargo can sit on hold while it's processed.

Say your supplier's shipping instructions list your company as "Sharma Industries" when your IEC is registered as "Sharma Industries Private Limited." Nothing bounces at filing, because the manifest doesn't validate against your registration. It bounces when your CHA tries to file the Bill of Entry and the consignee doesn't reconcile. Now you're waiting on an amendment while demurrage runs.

The pattern behind almost all of it: you weren't the one who typed the detail, but you're the one holding the container. Sending your exact registered name, address, and IEC to your supplier at the PO stage, not at the shipping stage, removes most of this class of error before it exists.

How Does Skydo Help?

Many businesses importing inputs are exporting something too, and a consignee detail that's wrong on the manifest tends to be wrong everywhere else the same entity name appears. Remittances land against a name the bank can't reconcile. The FIRA your GST refund claim depends on takes weeks, not days. The document mess that started on the import side ends up costing money.

That receiving end is what Skydo handles. Pricing is a flat fee rather than a percentage of the full amount, as banks and PayPal charge: $19 for amounts under $2,000, $29 for amounts between $2,000 and $10,000, and 0.3% above that. No hidden charges. Free virtual accounts in USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, AUD, and CAD, plus international SWIFT. Setup takes 10 to 15 minutes, no monthly fee, you pay only when you transact.

The part that matters for a compliance article: every transaction comes with a FIRA issued automatically. No RM calls, no chasing SWIFT copies, no wondering when funds actually land, because settlement status is visible as it happens.

Same instinct that keeps your import clean. Know what's been filed before you need it.

Explore Skydo!