The TradeLala blog
Methods, not motivation.
Every post here is a procedure you can run this week on your own product, with the arithmetic shown. Written for people who actually ship — exporters, importers, merchant traders and the people who do their market research.
How to find export buyers using shipment data
A repeatable six-step method for turning customs and bill-of-lading records into a shortlist of named importers who already buy what you sell.
ITC-HS codes: finding the right 8 digits
What each pair of digits in an Indian ITC-HS code means, how to verify yours against DGFT and CBIC, and the traps that cost exporters incentive money.
How to read a bill of lading
Every field on a B/L, what it legally means, and what a competitor's bill of lading quietly reveals about their volumes, lanes, buyers and freight arrangements.
Which country should you export to?
Five signals that separate a real export market from a big one, and a scoring matrix for ranking candidate countries using shipment data rather than intuition.
How to verify an overseas buyer before you ship
Nine checks covering shipment history, company registry, domain age, credit cover and sanctions screening, to separate a real importer from an expensive lesson.
Export pricing: from ex-works cost to a quotable FOB number
How to build an export price line by line, which Incoterm to quote, and how to read the market's real price band from customs unit values.
RoDTEP, Drawback and the schemes that decide your margin
What each Indian export incentive actually refunds, which ones stack, how the e-scrip claim works on ICEGATE, and where the 2026 RoDTEP extension currently stands.
Trade fair maths: is that exhibition worth ₹8 lakh?
A full cost model for an overseas trade fair, the break-even arithmetic, and how to pre-book meetings with buyers who already import your product before you fly.
The cold email that gets a reply from an importer
Why generic export introductions fail, the evidence-first structure that works, and three templates for first contact, follow-up and displacing an incumbent.
India's trade data: what's in it, what's missing
The three sources behind every Indian trade-data product, the fields each carries, the coverage gaps nobody advertises, and how to read them honestly.