HS Code 0511 91 10: Fish nails

Fish nails imported into India falls under tariff item 0511 91 10. The standard rate of basic customs duty in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 is 30%, and integrated tax is 5%. On the export side the same code earns RoDTEP at 0.5% of FOB value under Appendix 4R. Below is the whole bill worked at an assessable value of ₹10,00,000, with the base each levy is charged on.

Import policy: Prohibited. This tariff item is listed as prohibited for import. The figures below are the tariff arithmetic only. They are not permission to import, and a consignment of prohibited goods is liable to seizure whatever duty is tendered.

Duty and tax on ₹10,00,0000511 91 1039.65% of value
Basic customs duty30% of the assessable value₹3,00,000
Social Welfare Surcharge10% of the basic customs duty₹30,000
IGST5% of value plus the duties above₹66,500
Payable with a duty-credit scripbasic customs duty only₹3,00,000
Payable in cashsurcharge, integrated tax and cess₹96,500
Total duty and tax on this Bill of Entry₹3,96,500
Worked at the standard First Schedule rate. No exemption notification is applied. * An asterisk marks a rate taken from a published tariff mirror and not yet confirmed against the CBIC notification that set it. Confirm a marked figure against the tariff in force before you file.Change the value

Where tariff item 0511 91 10 sits in the schedule

LevelDescription
05Chapter 05: Products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included
0511Heading 0511: Animal products not elsewhere specified or included; dead animals of chapter
0511 91Sub-heading 0511 91: Products of fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates; dead animals of Chapter 3
0511 91 10Fish nails. Unit: kg.. Import policy: Prohibited

Heading 0511 holds 12 tariff items in this dataset and their standard rates run from 0% to 30%, so on this heading the eight digit line a consignment is classified under decides what it costs. This line sits at 30%.

Duty on an import of this item

Put your own assessable value in and the whole stack re-works on this line's own rates: basic customs duty at 30%, the Social Welfare Surcharge charged on that duty rather than on the value, and integrated tax at 5% on the value plus both. Assessable value is cost, insurance and freight plus landing charges where they apply, not the invoice value on its own.

RateLevyAmount
30%Basic customs duty, of the assessable value₹3,00,000
10%Social Welfare Surcharge, of the basic customs duty₹30,000
5%IGST, of value plus the duties above₹66,500
39.65%Total duty and tax, as a share of the assessable value₹3,96,500
₹3,00,000Payable with a duty-credit scripOf this, the basic customs duty of ₹3,00,000 can be paid with duty credit scrips. The remaining ₹96,500 is paid in cash.

RoDTEP on this tariff line, the export side

The same eight digit code decides what an exporter earns. Appendix 4R to the Handbook of Procedures gives tariff item 0511 91 10 a RoDTEP rate of 0.5% of FOB value, notified by Notification 32/2024-25 and in force from 10 October 2024. Appendix 4R is the schedule for exports from the Domestic Tariff Area.

An exporter under an Advance Authorisation, an Export Oriented Unit or a unit in a Special Economic Zone reads Appendix 4RE instead, which puts this line at 0.3%. Which schedule applies is a fact about the exporter, not about the goods, so this page does not choose between them.

Notification 74/2025-26 ran the scheme to 30 September 2026, which has passed, so check DGFT for a continuation notification before relying on the figure above. Rates come from Appendix 4R and Appendix 4RE as DGFT publishes them. Work the entitlement on your own FOB value and quantity.

Preferential rates by origin

Where a trade agreement covers this line, the preferential rate replaces the basic customs duty rate, and it pulls the surcharge and the integrated tax down with it. At 0% for ASEAN countries, the whole bill on ₹10,00,000 falls from ₹3,96,500 to ₹50,000.

ASEAN countries0%
Japan0%
Least Developed Countries0%
Malaysia0%
Nepal0%
Philippines0%
SAFTA (LDC) countries0%
Singapore0%
Sri Lanka0%
SAFTA countries5%
the republic of Korea5%
United Arab Emirats12%
APTA countries18%

A preference is never automatic. It applies against a valid certificate of origin, and the Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 put the burden of proving origin on the importer. These are the 2025 schedule.

Other tariff items under heading 0511

CodeDescriptionDutyIGSTExport rate
0511 10 00Bovine semen5%5%0.5%
0511 91 20Fish tails30%5%0.5%
0511 91 30Other fish waste30%5%0.5%
0511 91 40Artemia cyst0%5%0.5%
0511 91 90Other30%5%0.5%
0511 99 10Silkworm pupae30%5%0.5%
0511 99 21Of wild life30%5%0.5%
0511 99 29Other30%5%0.5%
0511 99 91Frozen semen, other than bovine; bovine embryo30%5%0.5%
0511 99 92Of wild life30%5%0.5%
0511 99 99Other30%5%0.5%

What this means in plain English

Bring in ₹10,00,000 of fish nails and customs will ask for ₹3,96,500, which is 39.65% of what the consignment is assessed at. That is not one charge. It is four, and each is charged on a base that includes the ones before it.

  • Basic customs duty, ₹3,00,000 at 30% of the assessable value.
  • Social Welfare Surcharge, ₹30,000 at 10% of that duty rather than of the value, under section 110 of the Finance Act, 2018.
  • Integrated tax, the large one: ₹66,500 at 5% on the value plus the duties above it, under section 3(8) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Carried under CBIC notification 009/2025, schedule I18.
Read the duty rate as a ceiling, not a bill. 30% is the standard rate in the First Schedule, before any exemption notification, and the total above carries no Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess, no duty stated per unit and no trade remedy duty. What is and is not inside these figures, written once for the whole chapter.

Paying part of this with a duty-credit scrip

Of the ₹3,96,500 above, exactly ₹3,00,000 can be paid with a RoDTEP or RoSCTL duty-credit scrip instead of cash, because Regulation 6(1) of the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger Regulations, 2021 confines the credit in an e-scrip to duties of customs specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The remaining ₹96,500 is paid in cash.

A scrip bought below face value therefore saves that discount on ₹3,00,000, not on ₹3,96,500. How the buy side works, or read what a duty-credit scrip is end to end.

Where these rates come from

The First Schedule states the duty on this line as "30%". Integrated tax is carried under CBIC notification 009/2025. How the figures in this chapter are checked, and when they were last checked is in the meta line at the top of this page.

This is the tariff arithmetic on a published rate, not an assessment. Goods are assessed by the proper officer under section 17 of the Customs Act, 1962, and valuation, exemption notifications, anti-dumping and safeguard duties can all change what is finally payable. A wrong tariff line makes every number on this page wrong together, so this is not classification advice.

Customs duty calculatorAll of chapter 05: Products of animal originEvery chapter

For importers

Pay the basic customs duty line with a scrip, not cash.

Money locked before the scrip moves. Settlement the same business day.