ICEGATE
How do I download my shipping bill from ICEGATE. And which copy?
The EP and Exchange Control copies have not been printed since December 2016. Which artefact each asker actually needs, what the public enquiry returns, and who else already holds your bill.
By Aaryan Kakani · · 11 min read
Which copy of the shipping bill do you actually need?
"Download the shipping bill" is four different requests wearing one phrase, and they have four different answers. Before spending an afternoon inside a portal, settle which one you are being asked for, because in two of the four cases the document is already where it needs to be and nothing is required from you at all.
| Who is asking | What they actually need | Where it already is |
|---|---|---|
| Your AD bank, closing an EDPMS entry | The shipping bill number, port code and date, so the entry can be matched to an inward remittance | Already in EDPMS. Shipping-bill data is integrated with it, which is the circular's own stated reason for dropping the printed copy |
| DGFT, for an incentive claim | The shipping bill as transmitted to DGFT by CBEC | Already with DGFT. CBEC supplies digitally signed shipping bills to DGFT. Where it did not arrive, the remedy is re-transmission, not a download |
| A buyer, insurer, auditor or freight claim | A readable document showing the export was made and cleared | The copy your customs broker holds, plus whatever ICEGATE returns under your own registration |
| You, checking a fact | Whether the bill exists, was assessed, got its Let Export Order and has an EGM against it | The ICEGATE public enquiry, which needs no login |
Why is there no EP or Exchange Control copy to download?
Because customs stopped printing them. CBEC Circular No. 55/2016-Customs dated 23 November 2016, operational from 1 December 2016, reduced the physical print-outs required for customs clearance and did away with several document copies outright.
| Document | Position since 1 December 2016 |
|---|---|
| Shipping bill. Exchange Control copy | Not printed |
| Shipping bill. Export Promotion copy (EP copy) | Not printed |
| Bill of Entry. Exchange Control copy | Not printed |
| Trans-shipment Permit | Print-out dispensed with |
| GAR-7 forms and TR-6 challans | Print-out dispensed with |
The reasoning recorded in the circular is the part worth carrying away, because it tells you where the document went rather than only that it is gone: CBEC provides copies of digitally signed shipping bills to DGFT, and shipping-bill data is integrated with RBI's EDPMS, so printing the Exchange Control and Export Promotion copies no longer serves a purpose. The two institutions that used to receive paper now receive data directly.
What this does to the 21-day lodgement rule
Para B.2(ii) of RBI's FED Master Direction No. 16/2015-16 requires the Exchange Control copy of the shipping bill to reach the Authorised Dealer bank within 21 days from the date of export, for collection or negotiation. The same paragraph then removes the requirement where the Exchange Control copy is not printed in terms of CBEC Circular No. 55/2016-Customs and shipping-bill data is integrated with EDPMS. Which describes most EDI-port exports today.
What can you get without logging in?
Status, and that is more than it sounds. ICEGATE's public enquiry returns the document status of a shipping bill against the shipping bill number and the port code, with no login and no registration. It will tell you whether the bill was filed, whether it has been assessed, whether the Let Export Order was issued and whether the Export General Manifest has been filed against it.
That single reading resolves the two arguments this question usually reduces to. If the answer is that the bill exists and has its Let Export Order, then whoever is telling you it is not ready is wrong, and you can say so with a fact rather than a suspicion. If the answer is that the Export General Manifest has not been filed, then "it is not ready yet" is true, the party you need is the carrier rather than your broker, and no amount of chasing the broker will move it.
- What it needs: the shipping bill number and the port code. Keep the shipping bill date to hand as well. Enquiry screens commonly ask for it as a third field.
- What it settles: existence, assessment stage, Let Export Order, EGM. Four facts, no cooperation required from anyone.
- What it is not: a document download. It is a status read. If you need something to attach to an email, this is not it.
What changes once you are registered under your own IEC?
The structural problem behind this whole question is that your customs broker files the shipping bill on ICEGATE on your behalf, under your Importer-Exporter Code, and the acknowledgement, the assessment and the Let Export Order all land in the session they are logged into. If you never registered yourself, every one of those events happened somewhere you cannot see. Registering under your own IEC does not take the filing away from the broker; it gives you a second window onto the same record.
| Item | What to know before you start |
|---|---|
| Digital Signature Certificate | A Class 3 DSC registered on ICEGATE is what shipping-bill filing requires. DSC registration on ICEGATE can take 24 to 48 hours on its own |
| Order of registration | DGFT first, for the IEC; ICEGATE afterwards, because the IEC is what the ICEGATE registration is built on |
| AD code mapping | The AD bank code must be mapped in the ICEGATE profile. Without it the shipping bill will not link to EDPMS, drawback will not disburse and the bank cannot close the export entry |
| Timing | Start before the shipment it is meant to cover. Doing this on the day you need a document is the version of this task that fails |
Filing itself is a separate subject with its own sequence and its own failure modes. See how to file a shipping bill on ICEGATE and the ICEGATE portal guide for registration, e-Sanchit and status tracking.
Who else already holds a copy of your shipping bill?
Four parties hold the export record, and three of them are not your broker. Working the list in this order is usually faster than working the portal, because each party holds a different artefact and you may only need one of them.
| Holder | What they hold | Ask them when |
|---|---|---|
| Customs (ICEGATE / ICES) | The filed record itself, and its status | You need to establish a fact rather than produce a document |
| DGFT | The digitally signed shipping bill transmitted by CBEC | The request is tied to an incentive claim, an eBRC or a licence |
| Your AD bank | The EDPMS entry built from shipping-bill data | The question is about realisation, closure or a bill that will not close |
| Your customs broker | Their own copy of what they filed for you | Someone genuinely needs a readable document and the relationship is workable |
If the bank route is the one you are on, the entry rather than the document is usually the real subject. why a shipping bill will not close in EDPMS walks the causes in the order they occur.
The bill is not there. Access problem or transmission problem?
These two feel identical from the outside and have completely different remedies. Work them in this order, because each check rules out the ones below it.
- Has the Export General Manifest been filed? Nothing downstream of an export moves until the carrier files the EGM. Drawback, RoDTEP and the EDPMS update all wait on it. If the EGM is not filed, the bill is not late, and the party who can move it is the carrier.
- Did the bill reach DGFT? If the EGM is filed and the bill still has not reached DGFT, that is a transmission failure with a defined remedy: a DGFT re-transmission request raised on ICEGATE. See DGFT re-transmission of a shipping bill , which covers the request and the failure responses.
- Did the bill reach EDPMS? If the bank cannot see it, check that the AD bank code is mapped in the ICEGATE profile. Without that mapping the bill does not link to EDPMS at all, and the bank cannot close the entry however many copies you send it.
- Is the record itself wrong? A bill carrying a wrong figure or a missing declaration is an amendment question, not a download question. See shipping bill amendment and short shipment amendment .
What do you send when the asker insists on a stamped copy?
Somebody will still ask for a stamped, signed paper copy of a document that customs stopped printing in 2016. That request can come from a form or a checklist that predates the circular rather than from a stated requirement, so it is worth testing before it is satisfied. Three moves, in order.
- Ask what they are verifying. The underlying fact is normally that the export was made, that it cleared customs, or that it carries a particular value or shipping bill number. Each of those is verifiable without a printed copy.
- Send the circular. CBEC Circular No. 55/2016-Customs dated 23 November 2016 is the authority for the copy not existing. Where the request came from a checklist rather than a rule, the instrument is the thing that settles it.
- Offer what does exist. The shipping bill number, port code and date; the status as it reads on the ICEGATE public enquiry; and the broker's copy of the filing where the relationship allows it. Between them these cover the facts listed in the first move above.
If the request came attached to a realisation document (a FIRC, a FIRA or an eBRC) the asker may have named the wrong document entirely. Which document does the asker actually want works that problem from the other end.
Which parts does this guide not state, and why?
Portal mechanics change without notice and are documented inconsistently, and a guide that describes a screen it has not confirmed is worse than one that says it does not know. The following are deliberately not stated here.
- Menu paths and screen names. No sequence of clicks is given, and no page of the portal is described. The document state and the authority behind it are what this guide states; the current label on a button is not something it can confirm.
- Browser and Digital Signature Certificate behaviour. Signing utilities on Indian government portals are sensitive to browser and runtime versions. This guide states that a Class 3 DSC registered on ICEGATE is required for filing and that registering it can take 24 to 48 hours. It states no supported browser list, because that is a moving target and a wrong one sends readers down a day-long detour.
- Any retention period. How far back a shipping bill remains retrievable through an enquiry or a download facility is not stated here. If your bill is several years old, assume nothing and read the guide to old shipping bills .
- Fees and turnaround. No charge, service level or processing time is stated for any portal facility or for a broker's copy.
- What replaces para B.2(ii) from 1 October 2026. Notification No. FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB dated 13 January 2026 supersedes FED Master Direction No. 16/2015-16 on that date. This guide does not state the successor lodgement provision or its paragraph number. The customs-side position (that the copies are not printed) rests on the CBEC circular and is unaffected.
Questions exporters ask about getting a bill out of ICEGATE
Why can I not find the Exchange Control copy of my shipping bill on ICEGATE?
Because it is not printed. CBEC Circular No. 55/2016-Customs dated 23 November 2016, operational from 1 December 2016, did away with the printing of the Exchange Control copy and the Export Promotion copy of the shipping bill, along with the Exchange Control copy of the Bill of Entry, the Trans-shipment Permit and GAR-7 and TR-6 challans. The circular's own reasoning is that CBEC supplies digitally signed shipping bills to DGFT and shipping-bill data is integrated with RBI's EDPMS, so printing those two copies serves no useful purpose. An exporter hunting for a download that does not exist has two wrong explanations available. That the portal is broken, or that the broker is withholding something. Neither is the reason.
My bank is asking for the EC copy of the shipping bill. Do I have to produce one?
Usually not, at an EDI port. Para B.2(ii) of RBI's FED Master Direction No. 16/2015-16 requires the Exchange Control copy to reach the Authorised Dealer bank within 21 days from the date of export, and the same paragraph dispenses with that submission where the Exchange Control copy is not printed in terms of CBEC Circular No. 55/2016-Customs dated 23 November 2016 and shipping-bill data is integrated with EDPMS. That describes most EDI-port exports. The invoice and the transport document may still be wanted, but a missing EC copy is not a default you have to cure. Note that Master Direction No. 16/2015-16 is superseded on 1 October 2026 by Notification No. FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB dated 13 January 2026, so quote the Master Direction for a shipment made on or before 30 September 2026.
Can I check my shipping bill on ICEGATE without registering?
Yes, for status. ICEGATE's public enquiry returns the document status of a shipping bill against the shipping bill number and the port code, without a login. That is enough to establish whether the bill was filed, whether it has been assessed, whether the Let Export Order was issued, and whether the Export General Manifest has been filed by the carrier. It is not a document download, and it is not a substitute for registering under your own Importer-Exporter Code, but it settles whether the bill exists and what stage it has reached, in about a minute and without anyone's cooperation.
The shipping bill is not showing up anywhere. Is that an access problem or a transmission problem?
Check the Export General Manifest first. Nothing downstream of an export moves until the carrier files the EGM. Drawback, RoDTEP and the EDPMS update all wait on it, so a bill that was filed and cleared can still look incomplete everywhere downstream if the EGM has not been filed. If the EGM is filed and the bill still has not reached DGFT, that is a transmission failure with its own remedy: a DGFT re-transmission request raised on ICEGATE. If the bill has not reached your bank's EDPMS at all, check that your AD code is mapped in the ICEGATE profile, because without that mapping the bill does not link to EDPMS and the bank cannot close the entry.
Do I need a Digital Signature Certificate just to look at my own shipping bills?
Not for the public enquiry, which needs no login at all. A Class 3 Digital Signature Certificate registered on ICEGATE is what shipping-bill filing requires, and DSC registration on ICEGATE can itself take 24 to 48 hours, which is why it is worth doing before you need it rather than on the day of shipment. If your objective is simply to stop depending on your broker's inbox for your own documents, registering under your own Importer-Exporter Code is the step that changes the situation, and it is worth starting well ahead of the shipment it is meant to cover.
Someone has asked me for a stamped and signed copy of the shipping bill. What do I send?
Ask what they are verifying, then send the thing that verifies it. For a bank closing an EDPMS entry, the bill reached them electronically and what resolves a query is the shipping bill number, the port code and the date. For a DGFT incentive claim, the digitally signed shipping bill was transmitted to DGFT by CBEC, so the claim does not rest on your copy at all. For a buyer, an insurer or an auditor who wants a document, what exists is the copy your customs broker holds and whatever ICEGATE returns to you under your own registration. If the asker will accept nothing but a stamped paper copy of a document customs stopped printing in 2016, the productive move is to send them CBEC Circular No. 55/2016-Customs dated 23 November 2016 rather than to keep looking for the copy.
What should I read next?
- The ICEGATE portal guide. Registration, e-Sanchit, status tracking and the EGM
- My CHA will not give me the shipping bill. Where the record already exists
- DGFT re-transmission. When the bill never reached the incentive side
- What to lodge with the AD bank, by export channel, and within what period
- Why will my shipping bill not close in EDPMS?
Stop chasing documents you already have
Seasaw keeps the shipping bill number, port code and date beside every open export entry and the payout that closes it. So when a bank or a buyer asks, the answer is a lookup rather than a week of chasing.
Update history
- First published.