Goods imported, payment still pending in IDPMS

What does your bank mean when it says goods imported, payment still pending in IDPMS?

IDPMS (the Import Data Processing and Monitoring System) is the RBI system in which every import payment and every Bill of Entry is matched against each other. The line on your letter, usually listed as deviation type 4, means exactly one thing: Customs data shows goods were cleared against a Bill of Entry, but your bank has not recorded an outward remittance settled against that BOE. Either the money has not gone, or it has gone and nobody told the bank which BOE it belongs to.

The letter uses two status words, and they are not interchangeable. Outstanding means the item is open but still within the stipulated timeline for submission. Overdue means the item has crossed that timeline. "Zeroizing the regulatory deviation" is the bank's own phrase for getting every such entry settled and off the list.

What the bank is actually asking for is narrow. Either make the payment and give it a Request Letter, the commercial invoice and the BOE copy so it can execute and settle the remittance; or, if the money has already gone, give it the BOE details in the bank's prescribed format so it can match the remittance it is already holding to the right Bill of Entry. It is, in most cases, a matching problem rather than a money problem.

When is the import payment actually due. 180 days from the Bill of Entry, or six months from shipment?

Six months from the date of shipment. Para B.5.1(i) of FED Master Direction No. 17/2016-17 (Import of Goods and Services) requires that remittances against imports be completed not later than six months from the date of shipment , except where amounts are withheld towards guarantee of performance. That is the rule, and it differs from the bank's "180 days from BOE date" in two separate ways.

First, the unit . The rule is six calendar months, not a flat 180-day count. Second, and far more important, the start date . The clock runs from the date of shipment. The Bill of Entry is filed and assessed at the Indian port and is normally later than shipment. Often by two to six weeks on ocean cargo.

The direction of that error cuts against you. A bank system counting 180 days from the BOE date gives you more apparent time than FEMA allows . An entry the bank still shows as "Outstanding" may already be a FEMA breach, and nothing on the screen will warn you before the statutory date passes. Work the deadline off the bill of lading or airway bill date yourself, and treat the bank's date as the later, softer one.

One relaxation people still cite is spent: the COVID-19 extension of the settlement period from six months to twelve months applied only to imports made on or before 31 July 2020. The current rule is six months.

What does an unresolved entry cost? Three things. An unsettled Outward Remittance Message does not age out or lapse. Para C.8(xvi) obliges AD banks to keep following it up indefinitely, so the item stays live until settled or closed. Banks routinely decline further advance remittances and fresh letters of credit for an importer carrying open overdue items. And payment beyond the permitted period is a contravention of FEMA.

What exactly do you send the bank to release the payment and clear the entry?

The pack is what actually moves the entry, so it is worth knowing what each paper is for rather than just that it is required.

What each document proves

• Request Letter. The covering instruction to the AD bank identifying which BOE is being settled and against which remittance. It is the spine of the pack, and it carries the BOE number, port code and BOE date.
• Commercial invoice. The value, the supplier, the currency and the terms. This is the figure the remittance is measured against.
• BOE copy (Exchange Control purpose), or BOE details in the bank's prescribed format. The Customs proof that the goods entered India, and the record IDPMS matches against.
• Transport document. Bill of lading, airway bill, or motor transport document for land borders. This fixes the date of shipment, which is what the six-month clock runs from. Include it even when the bank does not list it.
• Supplier's bank details and the outward remittance application. The A2 / FEMA declaration set for the payment leg itself.
• Importer declaration. Where the entry is Rs 10 lakh or less, a declaration that the amount has been paid, under the October 2025 route.

Two situations trip up otherwise complete packs. The first is part payment and many-to-many settlement : multiple remittances can be settled against one BOE, and multiple BOEs against one remittance. Tell the bank in the Request Letter exactly which amounts map to which BOE, rather than sending a lump sum and hoping the desk works it out. The second is the other-bank case : if the remittance for this BOE went out through a different bank, you need that bank's remittance advice or SWIFT copy identifying the BOE, because the querying bank cannot see another bank's Outward Remittance Message.

If the bank downloads the Bill of Entry automatically, why does it still need BOE details from you?

This is the step that confuses most importers. Under para C.8(iii), banks download the Bill of Entry issued by EDI ports from "BOE Master" in IDPMS, based on the AD code declared by the importer, and submission of the hardcopy Exchange Control copy of the BOE has been discontinued. So the paper is gone. The reporting is not.

The bank still needs the BOE number, port code and BOE date from you to know which BOE to settle against which remittance. And the download only happens at all if the correct AD code was declared on the Bill of Entry at the time of filing.

Some cases have no auto-fetch at all. These must be handed to the bank as documents:

No auto-download. Hand the bank the papers

• Non-EDI and manual Bills of Entry
• Courier imports
• Customs Assessment Certificate cases
• Postal Appraisal Form cases

What if you agreed deferred payment or supplier's credit with your seller. Is that item really overdue?

Often it is not. A large share of these letters chase items that are not six-month items at all. Under para B.5.2, any deferred payment arrangement (including supplier's credit and buyer's credit) entered into for up to three years for import of capital goods , and up to one year or the operating cycle whichever is less for non-capital goods , is treated as a trade credit and is governed by the Master Direction on External Commercial Borrowings, Trade Credits and Structured Obligations. It is not governed by the B.5.1 six-month clock, and it must not be chased as overdue against it.

The reply to the bank in this case is documentary, not a payment. Send the contract or purchase order showing the agreed credit period; the supplier's credit or buyer's credit sanction and drawdown papers; and confirmation that the trade credit has been reported under the trade credit framework, with its LRN.

There is one other reason a balance legitimately sits unpaid past six months: the carve-out in para B.5.1(i) itself for amounts withheld towards guarantee of performance . If part of your invoice value is retained under a performance guarantee clause, say so explicitly in the Request Letter and attach the contract clause. Left unstated, the bank has no way to tell a retention from a default, and will keep listing it.

How do you get more time to pay when the money genuinely cannot go now?

You do not write to RBI. This is the single most useful thing an importer in trouble can learn. Under para B.5.4, the AD Category-I bank itself, without any reference to the Reserve Bank , may consider granting extension of time for settlement of import dues up to six months at a time , subject to a maximum of three years , where the importer's reasons are genuine, the importer is not under investigation, and the bank is satisfied as to bona fides.

What to put in the extension request

• BOE particulars (number, port code, date) for every entry covered
• The amount outstanding against each
• The specific reason: supplier dispute, quality claim, short shipment, funds blocked, litigation
• What has been done so far. Correspondence, survey, claim filed
• A date by which payment will be made

Honest caveat: the Master Direction does not spell out a consequence for an importer who simply lets the period lapse without asking. The regulatory exposure comes from FEMA itself, as a contravention capable of being compounded; the commercial consequence comes from your bank declining further facilities. Neither is written into the import settlement paragraphs.

Who actually closes the IDPMS entry, and what makes it disappear from the bank's list?

Closure is performed by the AD Category-I bank inside IDPMS. The importer never closes an entry and, on the evidence of the Master Direction, has no direct IDPMS access at all. Most importers assume payment alone closes the item. It does not.

The closure sequence

1. 1 Bank creates the ORM For every outward remittance made for an import, the bank creates an Outward Remittance Message in IDPMS.
2. 2 The Bill of Entry reaches IDPMS Either auto-downloaded by the bank from BOE Master for EDI ports using the declared AD code, or entered by the bank from documents for non-EDI, manual, courier, Customs Assessment Certificate and Postal Appraisal Form cases.
3. 3 Bank settles the BOE against the ORM Using the prescribed "BOE settlement" message. Many-to-many settlement is permitted. Several remittances to one BOE, or several BOEs to one remittance.
4. 4 The entry drops off the list Only once that ORM. BOE settlement is recorded. This is why paid items keep reappearing on deviation letters: the money went, the settlement message did not.

Some entries will never tie exactly. There are three routes for those.

Once you have paid, ask for one more thing: written confirmation from the bank that the ORM has been settled against the BOE in IDPMS . You cannot verify it yourself, so the confirmation is your only record that the entry is actually closed.

A Pune engineering firm imports machine components from a Shanghai supplier on open account, invoice value USD 62,400 (about Rs 54 lakh). The bill of lading is dated 12 March 2026. The container reaches Nhava Sheva and the Bill of Entry is filed and assessed on 2 April 2026. On 10 August 2026 the AD bank's regulatory deviation letter lands, listing the BOE under "IDPMS. Imports made, payment pending", status Outstanding, with the note that payment is required within 180 days from the BOE date. The firm's accounts team reads "Outstanding", sees the bank's own due date, and plans to remit on 20 September 2026 when a customer receipt is expected. </> } result= >

Your reply pack checklist for an IDPMS payment-pending entry

Work down this list the same day the letter lands. Most of it can be done before you decide anything about money.

Establish the position

• Ask the bank for the full open-item statement with BOE number, port code, BOE date, invoice value and status (Outstanding or Overdue) for every line.
• For each BOE, pull the bill of lading or airway bill and write the real deadline on the file: date of shipment plus six months.
• Sort the entries into four buckets. Payable now; deferred payment or supplier's credit; disputed or short-shipped; and Rs 10 lakh or less.

Assemble the pack, bucket by bucket

• Payable now. Request Letter, commercial invoice, BOE copy or BOE details in the bank's format, transport document, supplier bank details and the outward remittance application.
• Deferred. Contract or purchase order showing the credit period, plus the trade credit sanction, drawdown papers and LRN.
• Disputed or short-shipped. Quality claim, survey report or short-shipment evidence, for closure under C.8(x) or C.8(xi).
• Rs 10 lakh or less. A signed declaration that the amount has been paid; these may be given quarterly and consolidated across several bills.
• Where the remittance already went through another bank, add that bank's remittance advice or SWIFT copy quoting the BOE.

Protect the position and close the loop

• Where any entry will cross six months from shipment before you can pay, file the B.5.4 extension request with your AD bank before the date passes.
• Check the AD code declared on each BOE, and raise a BOE amendment with Customs where it is wrong. Otherwise the entry will never reach your bank.
• Ask for and file written confirmation that each ORM has been settled against its BOE in IDPMS.
• Keep the whole pack, including the bank's acknowledgement slip, for your FEMA file.

Sources & citations

• [RBI FED Master Direction No. 17/2016-17. Import of Goods and Services](https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=10201).
• [RBI Master Direction. External Commercial Borrowings, Trade Credits and Structured Obligations](https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=10395).

Update history

• 2026-08-14 First published.