P0215 Purpose Code: Port handling, stevedoring and demurrage, airlines

P0215 is the RBI purpose code for: Receipts on account of other transportation services (stevedoring, demurrage, port handling charges etc).( Airlines companies). It sits in group 02, Transport, of the receipt purposes RBI uses to classify foreign exchange coming into India.

P0215 at a glance

Can a P0215 remittance become an eBRC?

DGFT's guidelines do not name P0215. They say that for a service export the exporter can attach only invoices whose SAC code matches the description of the service, and that no two purpose codes may be clubbed in one eBRC except with P0103. So where P0215 is the right description of a service you exported, the eBRC is generated with P0215 on its own, or clubbed with P0103, against an invoice whose SAC code matches that service.

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 P0215 has been classified as: Receipts on account of other transportation services (stevedoring, demurrage, port handling charges etc).( Airlines companies).

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 P0215 is defined. That list, Annex I to A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84 dated 29 February 2012, places P0215 in group 02, Transport, and describes it as: Receipts on account of other transportation services (stevedoring, demurrage, port handling charges etc).( Airlines companies). 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.

Service exporters, freelancers included, will find the whole route from remittance to certificate in eBRC for freelancers and service exporters.

P0215 or a neighbouring code

The codes below are the ones most easily confused with P0215. 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 02

• P0201Surplus freight and fares, Indian shipping companiesService export, not named
• P0202Operating expenses of foreign shipping companiesService export, not named
• P0205Operational leasing with crew, shippingService export, not named
• P0207Surplus freight and fares, Indian airlinesService export, not named
• P0208Operating expenses of foreign airlinesService export, not named
• P0211Operational leasing with crew, airlinesService export, not named
• P0214Port handling, stevedoring and demurrage, shippingService export, not named
• P0216Freight receipts, shipping companiesService export, not named
• P0217Passenger fares, Indian shipping companiesService export, not named
• P0218Other receipts by shipping companiesService export, not named
• P0219Freight receipts, Indian airlinesService export, not named
• P0220Passenger fares, airlinesService export, not named
• P0221Other receipts by airlinesService export, not named
• P0222Freight by road, rail, inland waterway and pipelineService export, not named
• P0223Passenger fares by other modes of transportService export, not named
• P0224Postal and courier services by airService export, not named
• P0225Postal and courier services by seaService export, not named
• P0226Postal and courier services by other modesService export, not named

All 19 Transport purpose codes