P1006 Purpose Code: Business and management consultancy

P1006 is the RBI purpose code for: Business and management consultancy and public relations services. It sits in group 10, Other Business Services, of the receipt purposes RBI uses to classify foreign exchange coming into India.

P1006 at a glance

Can a P1006 remittance become an eBRC?

DGFT's guidelines do not name P1006. 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 P1006 is the right description of a service you exported, the eBRC is generated with P1006 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 P1006 has been classified as: Business and management consultancy and public relations services.

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 P1006 is defined. That list, Annex I to A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84 dated 29 February 2012, places P1006 in group 10, Other Business Services, and describes it as: Business and management consultancy and public relations services. 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.

P1006 or a neighbouring code

The codes below are the ones most easily confused with P1006. 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 10

• P1002Commission on exports and importsService export, not named
• P1003Operational leasing without crew, airlinesService export, not named
• P1004Legal servicesService export, not named
• P1005Accounting, auditing and bookkeepingService export, not named
• P1007Advertising and trade fair servicesService export, not named
• P1008Research and development servicesService export, not named
• P1009Architectural servicesService export, not named
• P1010Agricultural and forestry servicesService export, not named
• P1011Maintenance of offices in IndiaService export, not named
• P1013Environmental servicesService export, not named
• P1014Engineering servicesService export, not named
• P1015Tax consulting servicesService export, not named
• P1016Market research and opinion pollingService export, not named
• P1017Publishing and printing servicesService export, not named
• P1018Mining servicesService export, not named
• P1019Commission agent servicesService export, not named
• P1020Wholesale and retail trade servicesService export, not named
• P1021Operational leasing without crew, shippingService export, not named
• P1022Other technical servicesService export, not named
• P1099Other services not included elsewhereService export, not named

All 21 Other Business Services purpose codes