Getting professional help with Indian import approvals: consultants, fees and red flags

No approval in this guide legally requires a consultant. BIS CRS, ISI, EPR, LMPC, WPC, MTCTE and BEE all run on government portals that the applicant can use directly; a consultant is worth paying when the time or risk of mistakes costs more than the fee.

Three situations make a consultant worth it:

1. A foreign factory is the applicant. Under BIS CRS, the factory applies and a foreign factory must nominate an Authorised Indian Representative^[1][2]. Someone in India has to chase the factory's documents, translations and test samples.
2. You need several approvals at once. An imported smartwatch, for example, needs CRS, a WPC ETA for its radio, battery EPR and plastic EPR^[3][4].
3. Deadlines are close. BIS keeps fees once it has started processing an application^[5], so a rejected file costs money and time.

If your product needs only one simple registration, such as LMPC with a Rs 500 fee^[6], you may not need anyone. Start with the free approval checker to see what applies.

The work differs by approval: BIS is testing and documents, EPR is registration plus yearly targets, LMPC is a short state or central filing, and WPC and MTCTE are radio and telecom testing. The table shows the official fee each consultant works around.

Published consultant fees are mostly between about Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 per approval, on top of government and lab fees. These are firms' own price pages, not regulated rates, and they vary in what they include.

Split every quote into three lines: government fees, lab or testing fees, and the consultant's professional fee, each with GST shown. If a quote cannot be split this way, you cannot compare it.

Watch for quotes built on old rules. One firm's BIS CRS page still lists a Rs 15,340 "application fee" and two-year validity^[15], while BIS's current table charges Rs 50,000 processing including one test report and, since February 2026, grants five-year licences^[7][22]. Similarly, one MTCTE fee table adds a "test report" fee to TEC's administrative fee^[21]; TEC's own fee is the administrative fee by group^[13], and testing is paid to the lab.

Lab fees are public for BIS: each recognised lab declares its charges on BIS LIMS, from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2,00,000 for IS 13252 (Part 1)^[23]. For WPC, one consultancy estimates RF testing at Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 per model^[24]. Use the compliance cost estimator to build your own budget, and see the costs hub.

LMPC importer registration and IEC are the ones most importers handle alone, because they are short forms with small fees. Testing-heavy approvals such as BIS CRS and WPC are where outside help pays off most.

If you do file yourself, keep the official checklists open: the BIS CRS application checklist and the EPR registration checklist list each document in order.

The clearest red flag is a promise the regulator does not make: guaranteed approval, a fixed date, or "no testing needed". Regulators publish targets, not guarantees; BIS's 20-working-day CRS target applies only when the file is right first time^[2].

Others to watch for:

• Lab referral deals. BIS-recognised labs may not use agents or pay referral commissions^[28].
• "We will hold the licence for you." BIS CRS licences belong to the factory^[1]; EPR and LMPC registrations belong to your company.
• Status calls only through them. For CDSCO, for example, only an authorised person of the company, not a third-party consultant, can ask about an application's status^[29]. Keep your own portal access everywhere.
• No verifiable track record. Past BIS R-numbers can be checked in the free BIS Care app^[30].
• Everything paid upfront with no written scope.

Read how to choose a BIS consultant for a fuller checklist.

Most BIS-recognised labs for consumer electronics are in Delhi NCR: at least 32 of the 68 labs on the IS 13252 (Part 1) list had NCR names on 1 November 2026^[31]. Mumbai and Ahmedabad have very few, so samples from those cities often travel.

Our city guides cover the local BIS office, labs, customs points and Legal Metrology route:

• BIS consultants in Delhi: Central Regional Office and two branch offices; six Delhi-named IS 13252 labs^[31].
• BIS consultants in Noida: Sector-62 branch office; nine Noida-named IS 13252 labs^[31].
• BIS consultants in Mumbai: Western Regional Office; three labs in the Mumbai region^[31].
• BIS consultants in Pune: Gultekdi branch office; three Pune-named labs^[31].
• BIS consultants in Ahmedabad: two branch offices; no Ahmedabad-named lab on the main CRS lists^[31].

Guides for Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata follow the same pattern.

Comploa is a free reference site, not a filing agent. We publish sourced guides, and on request we do a free compliance check and, if you want, introduce you to a consultant from our partner network.

Consultants and labs can apply through become a partner. We look for firms that publish clear fee splits, keep clients' portal access in the client's name and can show verifiable past work.

Partners do not pay to change what our guides say, and our guides do not rank or rate consultants. Our editorial policy explains how we keep the reference content independent, and our services page explains what we do and do not offer.