Documents Required for an eBRC: The Checklist
Since November 2023 an eBRC is self-certified by the exporter from the remittance the bank has already reported to DGFT. So the question is not which documents to upload, because there are none. It is which records to have open, and which fields from each the filing asks for.
Why there is no upload
Under the system DGFT introduced with Trade Notice 33/2023-24 of 10 November 2023, banks transmit every inward remittance for a trade account to DGFT as an IRM, and the exporter generates the certificate against those IRMs by self-certification. The bank no longer issues the certificate and DGFT does not ask for the shipping bill or the invoice as a file. It asks for the fields on them, and it holds you to what you declare. The eBRC playbook explains how the pieces fit; this guide is only about what to have ready.
Record one: the IRM
The IRM is the bank's message to DGFT that money arrived: the IRM number and date, the bank's IFSC and AD code, the currency and the amount, and the purpose code the bank assigned. It appears in your DGFT repository on its own; you do not create it. If a payment you have received is not there, the bank has not transmitted it, and the missing IRM guide is the place to start. The IRM guide explains the record itself.
Two things on the IRM decide what you can do with it. The purpose code, because DGFT's guideline does not allow an eBRC against P0101 or P0108 and restricts a service export to P0802, P0803, P0807 and P0103. And the AD code, because it has to match the AD code on the shipping bill, and the portal warns you when it does not.
Record two: the shipping bill, or what stands in for it
For a goods export the shipping bill is the export document. The filing asks for its number, date and port code, and for the invoice it covers. If you do not have the PDF, download it from ICEGATE; the fields are read from the copy, not from memory.
For a service export there is no shipping bill. A software export is declared on a SOFTEX form and that form's number stands in for the shipping bill; any other service is filed against the invoice itself. DGFT's guideline lets a service invoice be attached only where its SAC code matches the service described, so the invoice has to carry one. The SOFTEX guide and the service exporters guide cover each case. A deemed export is the fourth type the filing recognises, declared against its invoice in the same way.
Record three: the invoice
The invoice number and date, the currency, and the value, together with the freight, insurance, commission, discount and other deductions that explain any gap between what was invoiced and what arrived. The export invoice format guide lists what the invoice has to carry; for the filing, the number has to fit twenty characters and the currency has to be the invoice currency, not rupees.
The fields, in one place
| From | Fields the filing asks for |
|---|---|
| The IRM | IRM number and date, IFSC, AD code, currency, amount available, purpose code |
| The shipping bill (or SOFTEX, or the invoice for services) | Number, date, port code, currency, total value |
| The invoice | Invoice number, invoice date, and the GST invoice number and date where you claim the GST benefit |
| The mapping | How much of this IRM is applied to this shipment, and any freight, insurance, commission, discount or other deduction, each either deducted from the remittance or declared for information |
| Flags | Whether the money came through a Vostro account, whether a third party received it, and whether the GST benefit is claimed |
Source: the eBRC field set on the DGFT eBRC page and DGFT's exporter user guide on bulk generation.
The twelve rules DGFT applies
DGFT published its Self-Certified eBRC Generation Guidelines, version 1.0 of 10 November 2023, as a single page of rules. They are the checks the portal runs when you file, so read them before you map anything.
- Only IRMs in the same currency can be clubbed into one certificate.
- Only IRMs from the same bank and the same account number can be clubbed.
- No eBRC can be generated against purpose codes P0101 and P0108.
- For an advance payment under P0103, the shipping bill or invoice date must be on or after the remittance date. A certificate cannot be generated before the shipment or the invoice exists.
- P0103 can be used on its own to generate an eBRC.
- P0103 can be clubbed with P0807 for an IT service export.
- P0103 can be clubbed with any code in the P01 product group except P0101 and P0108.
- P0103 can be clubbed with P1505.
- Apart from P0103, no two purpose codes can be clubbed into a single certificate.
- For an IT service export only four purpose codes apply: P0802, P0803, P0807 and P0103.
- When the AD code on the shipping bill does not match the AD code on the IRM, the portal shows a warning and asks you to change the shipping bill's AD code to the bank's.
- For a service export, only invoices whose SAC code matches the description of the service can be attached.
The purpose codes guide and the purpose code directory explain each code named above.
What you also need, once
A DGFT portal login linked to your IEC through Aadhaar e-sign or a digital signature certificate; the login guide covers the linking and the errors that stop it. And, for the person filing, authority to certify: the declaration you accept when generating says the details are true, and the certificate carries your IEC.
What you get back
The eBRC itself, with its number, the issue date, the shipping bill and invoice it was generated against, the currency and the realised value, in your DGFT repository under Bank Realisations, ready to view, print or bulk download. The download guide covers finding it again. In the eBRC exporter app the same three records are already side by side: the IRMs are fetched from DGFT, the shipping bills are read from their PDFs by the same extractor that is free on this site, and every IRM is auto-mapped to the shipping bill and invoice it paid for, so the filing is reviewed and sent in one click. The certificate then lands in eBRC Reports, usually within about two hours.