P0104 Purpose Code: Intermediary or transit trade receipts

P0104 is the RBI purpose code for: Receipts against export of goods not covered by GR/PP/SOFTEX/EC copy (e.g., intermediary/transit trade). It sits in group 01, Exports (of Goods), of the receipt purposes RBI uses to classify foreign exchange coming into India.

P0104 at a glance

Can a P0104 remittance become an eBRC?

DGFT's guidelines exclude only P0101 and P0108 from group 01, and allow P0103 to be clubbed with "any of the 01 Product Groups except P0101 and P0108", which takes in P0104. A P0104 remittance can therefore be certified on its own, or clubbed with an advance under P0103.

The rule is DGFT’s, from its General Guidelines for Generating eBRC (last updated 26 March 2024). The full list, and what each rule means when you map remittances, is in how to generate an eBRC on the DGFT portal.

What this code says about the money

A purpose code is your bank speaking, not you. When a foreign payment reaches your account, the AD bank reports it with a purpose code that states the RBI classification of the transaction, and that report is the Inward Remittance Message, the IRM. A remittance carrying P0104 has been classified as: Receipts against export of goods not covered by GR/PP/SOFTEX/EC copy (e.g., intermediary/transit trade).

In FETERS reporting

FETERS is the Foreign Exchange Transactions Electronic Reporting System, the system under which Authorised Dealer banks report their foreign exchange transactions to the RBI, and its receipt purpose list is where P0104 is defined. That list, Annex I to A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84 dated 29 February 2012, places P0104 in group 01, Exports (of Goods), and describes it as: Receipts against export of goods not covered by the GR /PP /SOFTEX /EC copy of shipping bill etc. (under Intermediary/transit trade, i.e., third country export passing through India. That is the wording a bank’s reporting desk works from, so it is the wording to match when you ask the bank what a remittance was reported as.

If the goods were sold by a seller in India but travelled straight from a supplier abroad to the buyer, as in dropshipping, which of the group 01 codes applies turns on whether the goods physically left India and on who invoiced whom. The dropshipping purpose code guide sets out the candidates.

Whatever the code, the proceeds of a goods export have to be realised within the period FEMA sets, and the export realisation period guide gives the period in force and the date it runs from.

P0104 or a neighbouring code

The codes below are the ones most easily confused with P0104. The difference is in RBI’s wording, so the table quotes it, with what DGFT allows for each.

If the code on your remittance looks wrong

The code is attached at reporting time by the bank, so the fix runs through the bank, not through DGFT. Ask the AD branch that received the payment to confirm the classification; an amended report shows up as a revised IRM. What each IRM status means, and what you can do with a remittance in each state, is in the IRM explainer, and the errors DGFT returns when a code does not fit the filing are in IRM mapping errors on DGFT. Exporters who agree the purpose code with their buyer's bank once, at onboarding, rarely meet this page twice.

Other codes in group 01

• P0101Export bills negotiated, purchased or discountedNo, DGFT excludes it
• P0102Realisation of export bills sent on collectionYes, goods export
• P0103Advance receipts against export contractsYes, alone or clubbed
• P0105Export bills sent on collectionDiscontinued by RBI
• P0106Overdue export bills converted from NPD to collectionNot in RBI's 2012 list
• P0107Realisation of NPD export billsDiscontinued by RBI
• P0108Merchanting trade, export legNo, DGFT excludes it
• P0109Exports to Nepal and BhutanYes, goods export

All 9 Exports (of Goods) purpose codes