eBRC
Purpose codes  /  Transport

P0208 Purpose Code: Transport

P0208 is the RBI purpose code for: Operating expenses of foreign Airlines in India. It sits in group 02, Transport, of the receipt purposes RBI uses to classify foreign exchange coming into India.

P0208Group 02 · TransportRBI receipt purpose

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 P0208 has been classified as: Operating expenses of foreign Airlines in India.

This group sits outside the goods-export family, so a remittance carrying it reads as transport income rather than realisation of an export bill. If a payment you expected to certify as an eBRC arrived under this code, that mismatch is worth resolving with your AD bank before mapping, and the purpose code guide explains the conversation.

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 P0208 is defined. That list, Annex I to A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84 of 29 February 2012, places P0208 in group 02, Transport, and describes it as: Receipt on account of operating expenses of Foreign Airlines companies operating in 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 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. Exporters who agree the purpose code with their buyer's bank once, at onboarding, rarely meet this page twice.

Other codes in group 02

P0208 is an RBI purpose code for an inward remittance, and it classifies the payment as: Operating expenses of foreign Airlines in India. It sits in group 02, Transport.

Your AD bank does, not you. When a foreign payment reaches the account the bank reports it to the RBI with a purpose code, and that report is the Inward Remittance Message, the IRM. The code arrives already attached, which is why a code that looks wrong is corrected through the bank rather than through DGFT.

Group 02 sits outside the goods-export family, so a remittance carrying P0208 reads as transport income rather than realisation of an export bill. If a payment you expected to certify arrived under this code, the classification is worth settling with your AD bank before mapping it.

In RBI's FETERS receipt purpose list, Annex I to A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84 dated 29 February 2012, P0208 sits in group 02, Transport, and reads: Receipt on account of operating expenses of Foreign Airlines companies operating in India. FETERS is the Foreign Exchange Transactions Electronic Reporting System, under which Authorised Dealer banks report their foreign exchange transactions to the RBI.

They are different purposes inside the same group. Group 02 is Transport, and it carries 5 codes in total. P0208 means Operating expenses of foreign Airlines in India, while P0201 means Surplus freight/passenger fare by Indian shipping companies operating abroad, and P0202 means Operating expenses of foreign shipping companies in India. The bank picks the one that describes the payment.

More reference

LookupAll 22 purpose codesGuideRBI purpose codes on your eBRCLookupEvery Indian port code
Get started

The code arrives with the money. So can the certificate.

Get started →Read the guide
The eBRC exporter app is free at any volume. No certificate limit, no card required.