Send parcel to India

Who ships from Italy to India?

The routes between Italy and India have been industrial for generations, with surprisingly specific stories. Como, Italy's silk capital, has worked for decades with Mumbai and Surat for the supply of raw silk and fabrics, and the flows between the Como district and the Indian plants are weekly. Vicenza, Italy's jewellery city, has a close link with Surat and Mumbai, the world capitals of diamond cutting and gold processing. Veneto and Tuscany ship leather samples, fittings and prototypes to the tanneries and factories of Kanpur and Chennai. There is also a smaller but lively flow of private parcels: Italians living in Goa for extended yoga retreats, Sikh communities of southern Lazio (working in the buffalo dairy farms) sending parcels to Punjab, and a growing network of Italian restaurants in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Mumbai or Bombay? And why do so many Indian cities have two names?

India has renamed many of its major cities in the last 30 years, restoring the local names instead of those imposed during the colonial era. Bombay has officially been Mumbai since 1995, Madras became Chennai in 1996, Calcutta has been Kolkata since 2001, Bangalore has been Bengaluru since 2014. On the parcel you can use the new names, the old ones or even both: the Indian logistics network recognises all variants, and even the airport codes (BOM for Mumbai, MAA for Chennai) bear witness to this coexistence. What really matters for routing is the six-digit PIN code. So if the address you have uses the old name, no panic, the parcel arrives anyway.

Indian address: PIN code, state and city

India is a federal country with 28 states and eight union territories, and the address reflects that. The standard structure is: recipient's name, house number and street, possibly neighbourhood or "colony", city, state and six-digit PIN code. Example: "Priya Sharma, 14 Hill Road, Bandra West, Mumbai 400050, Maharashtra, INDIA". The PIN code is the key to the system: the first digit indicates the region (4 for Maharashtra and Goa, 1 for Delhi, 5 for Karnataka), the second the sub-district, down to the individual post office. Always add the recipient's phone number with the +91 prefix, because in India couriers almost always call before delivery, especially in gated communities, large residential complexes and the alleys of historic markets.

How long does it take to reach Mumbai, Kerala or the Himalayas?

Distances in India are enormous and delivery times reflect that. The major metropolises (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad) are the fastest and most predictable hubs: generally 6 to 8 working days from Italy. Tier 2 cities like Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow or Kochi add 1-2 days. For smaller localities, the Himalayan mountain areas or the rural zones of Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, the parcel reaches the regional hub and is then delivered by local couriers, with times that can extend by 2-3 days. After your order on europacco.com, shipment tracking is particularly useful outside the metropolises, where Indian logistics is fragmented and each step changes operator.

Indian customs: the truth between IEC, GST and contents description

The Indian customs system is one of the most articulated in the world. For commercial shipments it is almost always necessary that the recipient has an IEC (Importer Exporter Code), the code issued by the Indian government to companies that import. Without an IEC, the parcel remains stuck at customs. GST, the Indian tax on goods and services, applies to the merchandise, calculated according to the product category. Every shipment, even a small one, must have a very precise description in English, a realistic declared value and, for commercial use, an invoice with HS codes and, where required, specific certificates (BIS for electronics, FSSAI for food, AYUSH for natural products). For gifts and personal use, a detailed proforma invoice is needed: vague descriptions like "gift" or "samples" are not accepted. For companies shipping regularly to the same recipient, customs clearance times stabilise once the IEC is verified and the HS codes are tuned.

Diwali, Holi and what's really worth shipping?

The Indian calendar is rich with festivities, and some heavily affect logistics. Diwali, the festival of lights, falls between October and November and halts offices, factories and couriers for almost a week, with a peak in postal traffic in the days before: it's the moment of the year when the most gifts are exchanged across India. Holi (March), Republic Day (26 January) and Independence Day (15 August) are isolated days, while regional festivals vary greatly from state to state. On contents, the industrial route remains the most frequent: raw silk, fashion samples, leather goods, fittings for jewellery, machine spare parts for the Pune automotive district.