Indent Approval: Proforma Invoice and the 30-Day Timeline

1. Key takeaways

Indent Approval is the first step in the Bangladesh import process. The importer applies to DGDA on the basis of a proforma invoice, and processing takes about 30 days. It is not a one-off formality: it is taken out again for every consignment, and the wider workflow restarts from this point each time. The approval is best understood as a transaction control rather than a product control, which is why a valid registration certificate does not remove the requirement.

• Indent Approval is the entry point to the import cycle, and every later step depends on it being in place.
• The supporting document is the proforma invoice, so the accuracy of that document sets the quality of the application.
• Processing takes about 30 days, which is long enough to determine the shipping schedule rather than adjust to it.
• The approval is per consignment, and the workflow repeats from step one for each subsequent import.
• The statutory hook is the Act’s coverage of import as a regulated activity.
• Clearance that follows takes about 2 to 3 working days, so the approval dominates the front end of the timeline.

2. Legal basis

Indent Approval is an operational requirement whose statutory foundation is the coverage of import in the parent Act. The guideline and the practice documents then specify how the application is made and what it is assessed against. The table below sets out the elements and the sources, keeping the practical estimates visibly separate from the statutory reference.

The most important structural point in the table is that the requirement is tied to a consignment and not to a product. The Act makes import a regulated activity, and the approval is the instrument through which a specific import is authorised. Once that is understood, the recurring character of the step stops looking like administrative inefficiency and starts looking like the intended design: each import is a distinct regulated event, and each one is authorised on its own terms.

3. Expert insights

Insight one: Indent Approval assesses this transaction, not this product. Product eligibility has already been settled by the registration certificate. What the approval examines is the product name, quantity, price and origin of this particular consignment. That is why it operates per consignment and cannot be granted once for all future imports. Once this is understood, there is no expectation that it might be waived permanently, and planning shifts from seeking an exemption to designing a repeatable process.

Insight two: the proforma invoice is the core document, and its price feeds the later MRP step. The price stated on the proforma invoice enters the reference chain for the subsequent MRP approval. If the price is inconsistent, both of the later steps run into difficulty, and this is the trap that manufacturers most often walk into through loose internal quotation practice. A price that changes between the proforma invoice, the commercial invoice and the MRP filing invites questions at every one of those points, and the questions arrive at the stage where the goods are already in the country.

Insight three: Indent Approval and the NOC together form the double switch on Bangladesh imports. The first is issued by DGDA, on the government side. The second is issued by the licence holder, on the commercial side. Both switches have to be open before goods can enter. The practical consequence is that the smoothness of an import programme depends simultaneously on administrative efficiency and on the commercial relationship, and neither can compensate for the other. A manufacturer with an excellent regulatory file and a slow-moving licence holder will still miss its shipping windows.

Insight four: the 30 days is an average, and a manufacturer’s own record is more useful than the average. Processing time varies with the completeness of the file and with the workload at the time of filing. A company that records its own application dates and approval dates across several consignments ends up with a figure that is more accurate for its product category than any published estimate. That record also creates an audit trail showing that the planning assumptions were reviewed rather than inherited.

4. Practical recommendations

GRZAN runs Indent Approval as a templated operation: the format of the proforma invoice, the wording of the product name, the HS code and the price basis are fixed, and only the quantity and the date change from one consignment to the next. We also maintain an Indent Approval register recording the application date, the approval date and the actual elapsed time for each consignment. After three consignments the register produces the real cycle for that product category, which allows the 30 day practical figure to be calibrated into the client’s own working number.

• Fix the proforma invoice template, including product name, HS code and price basis, so that each application is a variation rather than a new document.
• Apply more than 30 days before the expected arrival date, and record the assumption in the consignment plan.
• Keep the proforma invoice price consistent with what will be declared at the MRP stage, and check the consistency before filing rather than after clearance.
• Request the licence holder’s NOC in parallel with the Indent Approval, so that the two switches are worked at the same time.
• Maintain the Indent Approval register with application and approval dates, and review it quarterly to refine the planning figure.
• Schedule clearance at 2 to 3 working days, and avoid committing to a delivery date that assumes clearance and MRP approval happen in the same week.

5. Verification checklist

• □ The proforma invoice template is fixed, with product name, code and price basis consistent
• □ Indent Approval is applied for more than 30 days before the expected arrival date
• □ The proforma invoice price is consistent with what will be declared for MRP approval
• □ The licence holder’s NOC has been requested in parallel rather than in sequence
• □ An Indent Approval register exists and is used to calibrate the real cycle
• □ Customs clearance is scheduled at 2 to 3 working days

Regulatory information verified as of 27 October 2026.

How GRZAN can help. GRZAN provides medical device and IVD registration, quality system, authorised representative and local testing support across South Asia, including Bangladesh. Our team prepares dossiers to DGDA expectations, manages submissions and deficiency responses, and supports post-market vigilance obligations. Business enquiries: info@grzanglobal.com