CBIC Confirms 10% Customs Duty on Grid-Scale Battery Storage: Industrial BESS Is Not a "Power Bank"

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has settled a dispute that had been inflating the landed cost of imported battery storage. In Circular No. 45/2026-Customs, dated 9 October 2026, the Board clarifies that stationary, grid-scale and industrial lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) classified under tariff item 8507 60 00 are not covered by the "power bank" exclusion, and therefore remain eligible for the 10% concessional basic customs duty (BCD). Importers whose consignments were being assessed at the full 20% tariff rate on this ground now have a clear Board instruction to rely on.

What Happened

Entry at S. No. 325 of Table I of Notification No. 45/2025-Customs (24 October 2025) — which corresponds to the erstwhile S. No. 528C of Notification No. 50/2017-Customs — prescribes a 10% concessional BCD for goods under 8507 60 00, while carving out three categories that do not get the concession:

• battery packs imported for the manufacture of electrically operated or hybrid motor vehicles;
• lithium-ion batteries or battery packs of cellular mobile phones; and
• power banks.

Several customs field formations had been reading "power bank" broadly and applying it to large, stationary BESS units, denying the concession and assessing them at 20%. Circular 45/2026 ends that practice. The Board clarifies that "power bank" covers only lithium-ion devices fitted with charging/discharging ports and designed to work as an external charger for cellular phones or other portable electronic devices. Grid-scale, stationary and industrial BESS do not fit that description and are not excluded.

Why It Matters

Battery storage is central to India's renewable-energy and grid-balancing build-out, and most large systems are still imported. The gap between the 10% concessional rate and the 20% tariff rate is a material cost on high-value shipments, and the uncertainty had been showing up as disputed assessments, provisional clearances and working-capital locked in differential-duty deposits. A Board circular binds field officers, so the clarification should translate quickly into consistent assessment at the lower rate.

Who Is Affected

• Importers of grid-scale, stationary and industrial lithium-ion BESS under 8507 60 00 — the clear winners, who can claim the 10% rate subject to the conditions in the underlying notification.
• Customs House Agents and importers with pending or provisional assessments, who can cite the circular to seek finalisation at 10% and, where excess duty was paid, pursue the normal refund route.
• Importers of true power banks, EV battery packs and mobile-phone batteries, who remain outside the concession — the circular does not change their position.

Operational Detail

The concession attaches to the classification and end-use description, not merely to the product name on the invoice. To claim 10%, the goods must genuinely be stationary/industrial BESS under 8507 60 00 and must meet any conditions attached to the notification entry. Documentation that establishes the system's design purpose — technical datasheets, system ratings, project or offtake context — strengthens the claim at assessment.

What Importers and CHAs Should Do Now

• Re-check recent and pending bills of entry for BESS consignments assessed at 20% on the "power bank" ground, and flag them for finalisation at 10% citing Circular 45/2026-Customs.
• Confirm the tariff line and description on new filings reads as stationary/industrial BESS under 8507 60 00, not generically as a "battery" or "power bank."
• Attach supporting technical documentation (ratings, datasheets, intended stationary/grid use) to pre-empt a reclassification query.
• Where excess duty was paid, assess eligibility for a refund under the normal customs refund provisions and keep the assessment records.
• Report any field-level difficulty in applying the circular to the jurisdictional Commissionerate; the Board has asked that implementation issues be escalated to it.

The Bigger Picture

The clarification is consistent with the government's policy of keeping input costs down for clean-energy infrastructure while reserving higher duties for finished consumer electronics. It also illustrates a recurring customs theme: a concessional entry with narrow exclusions invites divergent field interpretation, and a Board circular is the mechanism that restores uniformity. Importers in adjacent categories should watch for the same drafting pattern — a concession plus a short exclusion list — and classify carefully against the exclusion wording rather than the colloquial product name.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly did CBIC clarify? That stationary, grid-scale and industrial lithium-ion BESS under 8507 60 00 are not "power banks," so the 10% concessional BCD under S. No. 325 of Notification 45/2025-Customs continues to apply to them.

What is the duty difference? The concessional rate is 10% BCD; the standard tariff rate for these goods is 20%. The circular confirms eligibility for the lower rate.

Does this apply to power banks or EV battery packs? No. Power banks (external chargers for phones/portable devices), EV/hybrid-vehicle battery packs and cellular-phone batteries remain excluded from the concession.

Can I recover duty already paid at 20%? Where consignments were assessed at 20% solely on the "power bank" ground, importers can seek finalisation at 10% and pursue a refund of excess duty through the normal customs process, subject to limitation and unjust-enrichment checks.

Is a circular binding on customs officers? Yes. A CBIC circular is an instruction to field formations and is intended to secure uniform assessment nationwide.

Conclusion

Circular 45/2026-Customs removes a costly ambiguity for the battery-storage supply chain. Importers of grid-scale and industrial BESS should ensure their classification and documentation clearly establish the stationary/industrial nature of the goods, claim the 10% rate with confidence, and revisit any shipments wrongly assessed at 20%.

This summary is for general guidance only. Verify the exact text and conditions against the official CBIC circular and Notification No. 45/2025-Customs at cbic.gov.in before acting.