A 14-digit code identifying the bank branch that handles an exporter's foreign exchange. Registered against the IEC on ICEGATE; customs will not let a shipping bill be filed at a port until the AD code is registered there.
Advance Authorisation
A DGFT scheme allowing duty-free import of inputs that will be used to manufacture export products, against an export obligation with minimum value addition, governed by SION or self-declared norms.
AWB (Air Waybill)
The transport document issued by an airline or courier for a shipment. For courier exports it is the tracking key that must later be joined to the CSB-V, invoice, and remittance for reconciliation.
BRC (Bank Realisation Certificate)
The bank's certificate that export proceeds were realised. Now issued electronically as the eBRC on the DGFT portal and required for incentive claims and many refunds.
Caution List
An RBI list of exporters with overdue unrealised export proceeds in EDPMS. A caution-listed IEC faces bank refusals on new shipping bills and needs RBI-sanctioned regularisation to exit.
CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs)
The authority governing Indian customs and GST administration, issuing the notifications and circulars that set duty rates, procedures, and exemptions.
CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight)
An Incoterm where the seller pays cost, insurance, and freight to the destination port. Indian customs values imports on CIF; export incentives are computed on FOB, not CIF.
CSB-IV (Courier Shipping Bill IV)
The courier declaration for documents, gifts, and personal shipments. Not a commercial export: no IEC attached, no entry in EDPMS, no eBRC, no GST refund, no incentives.
CSB-V (Courier Shipping Bill V)
The courier-mode customs declaration for commercial exports with an IEC, filed on ECCS. The document that makes a courier parcel an export in the eyes of EDPMS, DGFT, and GST.
DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade)
The agency administering India's Foreign Trade Policy: IEC issuance, export incentive schemes, eBRC, licences, and SCOMET controls.
Drawback (Duty Drawback)
Refund of customs duties and central excise embedded in exported goods, claimed on the shipping bill at All-Industry or Brand rates. Can be combined with RoDTEP because they refund different taxes.
EDPMS (Export Data Processing and Monitoring System)
RBI's system tracking every export shipping bill until the bank matches it with realised payment and closes it. Open entries age toward caution-listing.
eBRC (Electronic Bank Realisation Certificate)
The electronic proof on DGFT that export proceeds were realised, generated against the bank's IRM data, largely by exporter self-certification since late 2023. Needed for incentives and refund scrutiny.
ECCS (Express Cargo Clearance System)
The customs system at courier terminals through which CSB-IV and CSB-V declarations are filed and cleared.
ECGC
India's state export credit insurer. Policies (including NIRVIK with 90% cover) protect exporters against buyer default and back bank export credit limits.
A current account letting exporters hold foreign-currency earnings without immediate conversion, useful for natural hedging of import payments.
EOU (Export Oriented Unit)
A unit committed to exporting its production, with duty-free procurement. Its export realisation window in EDPMS is nine months, same as other exporters.
EPCG (Export Promotion Capital Goods)
A DGFT scheme allowing duty-free import of capital goods against an export obligation, generally six times the duty saved over six years.
eSanchit
ICEGATE's facility for uploading supporting documents electronically against customs declarations, replacing hard-copy submissions.
FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999)
The statute governing foreign exchange in India. Export realisation timelines, write-offs, and EDPMS conduct all flow from FEMA and RBI's directions under it.
FIRA (Foreign Inward Remittance Advice)
The advice issued by a bank or payment provider evidencing a foreign currency credit: amount, currency, rate, and purpose. The document that ties marketplace payouts back to shipments.
FIRC (Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate)
The formal certificate version of remittance evidence, now largely replaced by FIRA/e-FIRC through banks and AD-category providers.
FOB (Free on Board)
An Incoterm where the seller's responsibility ends once goods are on the vessel. The FOB value on the shipping bill is the base for RoDTEP, drawback, and realisation tracking.
FTP (Foreign Trade Policy)
The DGFT policy document (currently FTP 2023) defining India's export-import framework: schemes, procedures, and the Handbook of Procedures that operationalises it.
GR Waiver
A bank/RBI dispensation from the requirement to realise export proceeds, used for genuine cases like free-of-charge replacements, exhibitions, or write-offs within permitted limits.
GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network)
The IT backbone of GST. Export refunds flow through GSTN forms: RFD-01 with Statement 3 for LUT exports, or IGST refund routed via the shipping bill.
HS Code (Harmonised System code)
The international commodity classification. India uses 8-digit ITC-HS codes; the code on the shipping bill decides duty, RoDTEP rate, and policy restrictions.
ICEGATE
Indian Customs' electronic gateway. Where shipping bills live, IECs and AD codes are registered, duties are paid, and exporters retrieve their customs records independently of any provider.
IDPMS (Import Data Processing and Monitoring System)
EDPMS's import-side twin: RBI's system matching bills of entry with outward remittances until each import payment is evidenced and closed.
IEC (Importer-Exporter Code)
The 10-character DGFT registration every commercial exporter needs. Whoever's IEC is on the shipping bill is the exporter of record and owns the eBRC, refunds, and incentives.
IGST Refund
The refund route for exports made with payment of tax: the shipping bill itself acts as the refund claim and customs disburses automatically once GSTR filings match.
Incoterms
ICC-published trade terms (FOB, CIF, DAP, EXW…) allocating cost, risk, and responsibility between buyer and seller. The term on the invoice drives customs valuation and insurance duty.
IRM (Inward Remittance Message)
The bank-side record of a foreign inward credit in EDPMS, which the bank sets off against shipping bills to close them. One IRM can pay many bills and one bill can consume many IRMs.
ITC (Input Tax Credit)
GST paid on inputs that offsets output liability. Exporters under LUT accumulate ITC and recover it through the RFD-01 refund with Statement 3.
LC (Letter of Credit)
A bank's undertaking to pay the exporter against conforming documents. Discrepancies between documents and LC terms are the main reason export LCs pay late or not at all.
LUT (Letter of Undertaking)
The GST declaration letting an exporter ship without charging IGST. Filed yearly on the GST portal; the accumulated input credit is then recovered via RFD-01.
NIRVIK
ECGC's enhanced insurance scheme offering up to 90% cover of principal and interest to banks on export credit, easing exporter access to working capital.
ORM (Outward Remittance Message)
The IDPMS record of an outward import payment which the bank matches against bills of entry to evidence that imports were paid for.
Packing Credit / PCFC
Pre-shipment working capital against an export order, in rupees (packing credit) or foreign currency (PCFC), repaid from the export proceeds.
Purpose Code
The RBI code a bank attaches to a cross-border payment stating why money moved (e.g. P0102 for goods exports). A wrong purpose code is a common reason remittances cannot close shipping bills.
RBI (Reserve Bank of India)
India's central bank. Through FEMA directions it sets export realisation timelines (nine months), runs EDPMS/IDPMS via banks, and maintains the caution list.
RFD-01
The GST refund application form. For LUT exporters it carries Statement 3 (shipping-bill-wise export detail) to claim accumulated input tax credit.
RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products)
The scheme refunding embedded, otherwise-unrefunded taxes (fuel VAT, electricity duty, mandi tax) as a percentage of FOB, claimed by ticking the scheme on the shipping bill and realised as transferable scrips.
RoSCTL (Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies)
RoDTEP's equivalent for garments and made-ups (Chapters 61-63), refunding embedded state and central levies on textile exports.
SCOMET
India's dual-use export control list (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies). Items on it need a DGFT licence before export.
SDF (Statutory Declaration Form)
The exporter's declaration of the full export value on the shipping bill, which commits them to realising that value under FEMA.
SEZ (Special Economic Zone)
A designated duty-free enclave. Supplies from the domestic tariff area to an SEZ count as exports; SEZ units follow the same nine-month realisation window in EDPMS.
Shipping Bill
The customs export declaration (SB for cargo, CSB-V for courier). The single key that EDPMS closure, eBRC, GST refunds, and incentive claims all reference.
SION (Standard Input Output Norms)
DGFT-published norms stating how much input is allowed duty-free per unit of export product under Advance Authorisation.
SOFTEX
The declaration software and IT-service exporters file with STPI/SEZ to have service exports recognised and matched against inward remittances, the services analogue of a shipping bill.
SRVA (Special Rupee Vostro Account)
A rupee account of a foreign bank with an Indian bank enabling trade settlement in INR. Exports settled through an SRVA count as realised for EDPMS purposes.
Statement 3
The annexure to RFD-01 listing each export invoice against its shipping bill number, date, and port code. Built from the same joined dataset as EDPMS reconciliation.
TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System)
RBI-regulated platforms (M1xchange, RXIL, Invoicemart) where MSME receivables are auctioned to financiers, converting invoices to cash without collateral.
UTR (Unique Transaction Reference)
The reference number identifying a specific credit in bank systems. Storing the UTR against each shipment is what makes remittance-to-shipping-bill reconciliation tractable.
Vostro Account
An account a foreign bank holds with an Indian bank in rupees. The plumbing behind INR trade settlement, including the SRVA mechanism.
Write-off
FEMA-permitted extinguishing of unrealisable export dues (self write-off up to 5% of average realisation for most exporters), clearing the EDPMS entry without payment. Beyond limits it needs bank or RBI approval.