How to Generate eBRC on the DGFT Portal: 8 Steps

Before you start: four things that must already be true

The eight steps below take minutes when these are in place, and stall completely when one is missing. Check them first.

• You hold an IEC and are registered on the DGFT portal as an Importer / Exporter. That is the account type the eBRC screens are built for, and every certificate hangs off the Importer Exporter Code.
• Your IEC is linked to that login. Linking a user id to an IEC is done once, with Aadhaar e-Sign or a digital signature. Until it is done, the eBRC screens have nothing to work against.
• Your bank has reported the remittance as an IRM. Your AD bank sends each inward payment to DGFT electronically as an Inward Remittance Message. No IRM means nothing to certify against, and DGFT states plainly that an exporter cannot generate an eBRC without an IRM. If the payment has landed but the record has not, start with why an IRM is not showing on DGFT.
• You have the shipping bill or invoice details in front of you. A certificate is a mapping: this money settles that shipping bill, SOFTEX or invoice. For goods you need the shipping bill number, date, port code, currency, value and AD code. For services you need the invoice number, date, currency, value, country and SAC code.

One thing that is not a prerequisite: the shipping bill does not have to be visible in EDPMS. DGFT's published answer is that the exporter can enter the shipping bill details themselves and generate the certificate on that basis.

Steps 1 to 3: reach the eBRC form

Step 1: Sign in to the DGFT portal

Go to the DGFT portal and sign in with the Importer / Exporter account registered against your IEC. If the sign in itself is the obstacle, the DGFT eBRC login guide covers the direct route and the common failures.

Step 2: Open Services, then eBRC

From the post login menu choose Services, then eBRC. This is the eBRC home, and it is worth reading once because everything you will ever need for a certificate is on it: IRM / ORM Repository, Generate e-BRC, Bulk Generate eBRC, View / Cancel eBRC, View IRM Utilization Report, View any e-BRC, Bulk Download Request and Respond to Bank / Agency, alongside the reference data: eBRC Generation Rules, Purpose Code to SAC Mapping, and Banks Onboarding / Cut-Off Dates.

Before generating, open IRM / ORM Repository once, to confirm the remittance is actually there and to read its purpose code, currency and amount. That repository shows the inward and outward remittances your banks have reported against your PAN, and thirty seconds here saves a rejected form later.

Step 3: Click Generate e-BRC and choose the eBRC type

The Generate e-BRC tile opens the draft list for the eBRC form. The first choice is the type, and it decides every rule that follows:

• For physical export of Goods
• For Deemed exports of Goods
• For export of Services, then a category of IT or NON-IT

Software exports go under Services with the category IT, because that is where SOFTEX belongs. Pick the wrong type and the form asks for the wrong documents, so settle this before you touch the remittance.

Steps 4 and 5: the remittance and what it pays for

Step 4: Add the remittance and enter Amount of eBRC (E)

You enter the IRM number, and then a single figure: Amount of eBRC (E), the part of that remittance you are applying to this certificate. Everything else fills itself in from the bank's record: Bank Name, Purpose Code, IRM currency, Remittance Amount (A), Attached to other eBRC (B), ORM Amount (C), IRM Amount Available to Generate Fresh eBRC (D = A - B - C), Balance IRM amount (F = D - E) and IRM Issue Date.

Read D before you type E. D is what is genuinely left on that remittance after earlier certificates and any outward remittance against it, and it is the number people get wrong. A payment does not have to be used up in one go: apply what belongs to this export and the balance stays available for the next certificate.

In the eBRC exporter app the remittance arrives with what is left on it already shown, and Use Full applies the whole balance in one click, so E is a confirmation rather than a calculation.

Several remittances can go into one certificate for goods and for deemed exports, subject to the clubbing rules below. For service exports, IT and non IT, clubbing is not permitted: one IRM produces one eBRC.

Step 5: Fill the shipping bill or invoice details

Click Save & Next and the eBRC details page opens. Your IEC and name are already there. What you supply depends on the type.

For goods: Shipping Bill AD Code, Whether you want to avail GSTIN benefit?, Branch for Generating eBRC, Shipping Bill number, Shipping Bill date, Port code of the export, Shipping bill currency code, Shipping value in currency code and Invoice Number. The account details, the realisation date and the total IRM value carry across on their own. Answering yes to the GSTIN question makes GSTIN of Branch, GST Invoice No and GST Invoice Date mandatory, and the GSTIN attached to the branch you selected is filled in for you. Choosing the branch is how the certificate carries the right GSTIN, which is what makes it usable for a GST refund on exports.

For services: Invoice number, Invoice date, Port code of the export, Invoice currency code, Invoice value in currency code, Country, the SAC Code, and Mode of Export of Services. The SAC field is a search, and the portal shows only invoices whose SAC codes match the description of the same services. DGFT publishes a Purpose Code to SAC Mapping on the eBRC page; use it rather than guessing.

For deemed exports: the same invoice fields, with the port code set to DEEMED by default.

In the eBRC exporter app these fields fill themselves from the shipping bill PDF you upload, and you confirm them rather than type them.

Steps 6 to 8: deductions, declaration, certificate

Step 6: Declare the deductions in the right column

There are two deduction sections, and the difference between them is the single most misread thing on this form. Commission, discount, insurance, freight and other deductions each appear twice:

• Deduction required for Net Realised Value. Use this when the remittance amount you received includes that charge and it has to come off to arrive at the net figure.
• Deduction not required for Net Realised Value (For Information Only). Use this when the remittance did not include the charge and you are simply recording it.

The portal then calculates Net Realized Value (FC) for you: the value realised in the foreign currency, less commission, discount, insurance, other deductions and freight. Get the column wrong and the net value on the certificate is wrong, which is the version an incentive claim or an auditor will read.

Step 7: Preview, tick the declaration, generate

You can preview the certificate before committing. Click Save & Next, read the declaration and tick the check box, then click Generate e-BRC. A message appears carrying the e-BRC number, and the certificate becomes visible to your bank and to the DGFT Regional Authority in their repository. This is the legally meaningful click, so treat it like one.

A single certificate generated this way needs no digital signature: it is the declaration tick and the button. Signing enters the picture in two other places, and it is worth knowing which. A bulk upload is signed before it is submitted, and until it is signed it sits at a pending signature status. A cancellation is submitted with a digital signature or e-Sign.

Step 8: Print or download the certificate

Go to My Dashboard, Repositories, open the Bills Repository, and select Bank Realisations (e-BRC) as the bill type. Find the certificate, click the Bank Realisation hyperlink, and use the Print e-BRC button next to the BRC type. The search has two constraints that catch people out, and the section on printing and downloading below walks through them, along with the bulk download route for a wider date range.

The rules DGFT enforces: clubbing remittances

DGFT publishes its Self-Certified eBRC Generation Guidelines and keeps the current eBRC Generation Rules on the eBRC page, last updated 26 March 2024. These are the checks the portal runs when you click Generate e-BRC, so it pays to know them before you fill the form. On combining remittances into one certificate they come down to this:

• Only IRMs in the same currency.
• Only IRMs of the same bank name and the same bank account number.
• Only IRMs carrying the same purpose code. The one exception is P0103, advance payment, which can be clubbed with other purpose codes for the same inward remittance.
• The branch selected must be the same across clubbed remittances, and active.
• For service exports, IT and non IT, no clubbing at all. One IRM, one certificate.

Clubbing is the answer to a common shape of export: one shipping bill paid in two or three instalments from the same buyer through the same account. Each instalment is its own IRM, and one certificate can carry all of them, provided every rule above holds.

The rules DGFT enforces: purpose codes and advance payments

The purpose code on the remittance is the bank's description of what the money was for, and DGFT uses it to decide whether a certificate can be generated at all.

• P0101 and P0108 cannot generate an eBRC at all.
• Services, IT: four purpose codes apply, P0802, P0803, P0807 and P0103. P0807 and P0802 cannot be clubbed with each other.
• Deemed exports: P1505 is the code for deemed export realisations, and P1505 is not used outside deemed exports.
• P0103, advance payment, can stand alone, can be clubbed with P0807 for IT services, can be clubbed with P1505, and can be clubbed with the 01 product group codes other than P0101 and P0108.

If the purpose code on your remittance is simply wrong, you cannot fix it yourself. Ask your bank to amend the IRM; amendment is the bank's action and DGFT provides for it. What each code means is in the purpose codes and currency codes guide.

Advance payments have one more rule. For P0103, the shipping bill or invoice date must be on or after the remittance date. The portal will not issue a certificate dated before the shipping bill or invoice for an advance payment. That is the rule that surprises exporters who receive money first and ship later: the certificate waits for the shipment, not for the money.

Common errors on the export details and what to do

The AD code on the shipping bill does not match the remittance

The portal shows a warning asking you to change the shipping bill's AD code to your bank's AD code. It is a warning, not a wall: DGFT's published position is that an eBRC can be generated where the shipping bill AD code and the IRM AD code differ, which happens legitimately when you hold accounts with more than one bank and the payment landed at a different one. Fix the shipping bill where the mismatch is a mistake, and carry on where it is not. What the code is and where it is registered is in AD code explained.

The shipping bill currency is not the remittance currency

That is allowed. The certificate can be generated where the shipping bill currency differs from the IRM currency, and it is generated on the basis of the IRM currency.

The shipping bill is not showing in EDPMS

You are not blocked. Enter the shipping bill details on the form and generate the certificate from what you have supplied. EDPMS and the eBRC system are separate systems, and closure of an EDPMS entry is a separate exercise with your bank, covered in EDPMS closure, explained.

Common errors on the payment and what to do

The payment came in through more than one bank

Generate a separate certificate against each payment. One shipping bill can support more than one eBRC where the certificates are from different banks.

The money came from someone other than the buyer

Mark yes on the third party question on the generation screen, so the certificate records that the payment was received from a third party.

The payment arrived through an online platform

The route is the same, and it starts at the bank: ask your bank to report the inward remittance, and generate the certificate from the resulting IRM. The mechanics for smaller and service led desks are in eBRC for freelancers and service exporters.

One remittance covers several modes of service

Generate a separate eBRC for each mode of export of service. The mode field records one mode per certificate.

After generation: cancelling, flagged certificates and wrong deductions

You generated one and it is wrong

You can cancel a self certified eBRC yourself, on the portal, within 120 days of generating it, and only if it has not been used to claim any benefit, incentive, refund or credit. Cancellation runs from the repository, needs a written reason, and is submitted with a digital signature or e-Sign. After 120 days the exporter cannot cancel it alone: the bank flags the certificate on your request, you respond to the flagged case, and the bank cancels it. An eBRC issued by a bank under the old process cannot be cancelled by the exporter at all.

Your bank has flagged the certificate

A certificate picked up by a bank's risk management review shows as under review, and the underlying remittance cannot be used while it is. Answer it from Services, eBRC, Respond to Bank / Agency: open the file number, read the bank's remarks, add your reply and any attachment, and submit the response. Being flagged does not by itself affect the validity of the certificate.

A deduction was entered wrongly

Discount, freight, commission, insurance and other deduction values can be updated on a certificate that has not been utilised for benefits or incentives, from the same repository screen. Checking where a certificate stands at any point is covered in how to check eBRC status on DGFT.

When self-certified eBRC generation began, and what has changed since

The route this guide describes is not the eBRC system exporters knew for a decade. The certificate itself dates from a DGFT public notice of June 2012, when banks began issuing it electronically. Self-certification is newer, and it arrived in three dated steps, each in a trade notice you can read.

• 10 November 2023. Trade Notice 33/2023-24 launched the upgraded eBRC system as a pilot, with a soft launch from 15 November 2023. From that notice onwards the bank transmits each inward remittance to DGFT as an IRM and the exporter generates the certificate by matching it to the shipping bill, SOFTEX or invoice. Each bank set its own cut-off date after testing, and remittances dated before a bank's cut-off stayed on the older route, so an exporter with two banks could be on two systems for a while. Banks were to be on the new API by 31 January 2024, and DGFT publishes the onboarding status and cut-off date of every bank on the eBRC page.
• 14 August 2024. Trade Notice 12/2024-25 added two things from 20 August 2024: the bulk upload, where a spreadsheet of IRM mappings with shipping bill and invoice details certifies many eBRCs at once, and an API for exporters who file from their own systems. That is the notice behind the Bulk Generate eBRC tile you saw in step 2.
• 21 April 2025. Trade Notice 02/2025-26 introduced the Mode of Export of Services field, mandatory for every services eBRC generated on or after 1 May 2025. It is the last field in step 5 for services, and a bulk file uploaded before that date but processed after it has to be uploaded again with the field filled in. The notice is linked from the DGFT eBRC page.

Why this matters when you are generating: an IRM from before your bank's cut-off will not be in the repository this guide walks through, a services certificate without a mode of export will not issue, and the bulk route is not an old feature you missed but one that has existed since August 2024.

Generating eBRCs in bulk

DGFT publishes a bulk route on the same eBRC page, Bulk Generate eBRC, which takes a spreadsheet of remittances and mappings and returns the certificate numbers row by row. The upload is signed once before submission and processed in the background, and until it is signed it sits at a pending signature status. If a backlog is what you are facing, that is the tool for it, and the column by column workflow is written up in filing eBRCs in bulk from a spreadsheet. The rules above apply to every row exactly as they apply to a single certificate. The column by column walk through the file, the states it passes through and the rules DGFT checks in bulk are in bulk eBRC generation on the DGFT portal from Excel.

Printing and downloading the certificate

The certificate lives in My Dashboard, Repositories, Bills Repository, under the bill type Bank Realisations (e-BRC). Two things about this search catch people out: the BRC issue date range is mandatory and must be a week or less, and you must also give at least one of the e-BRC number, the shipping bill number or the authorisation number. Find the certificate, click the Bank Realisation hyperlink, and use the Print e-BRC button next to the BRC type.

For a wider range, use Bulk Download Request on the eBRC page instead: pick the dates, and once the request shows as Processed the download link appears on the same screen. The number itself, and what to do with it once you have it, is covered in downloading your eBRC and copying the number.

How long eBRC generation takes

Your part takes minutes once the IRM is in the repository and the shipping bill or invoice details are to hand. The e-BRC number appears the moment you click Generate e-BRC, and the certificate comes back in about two hours once DGFT has processed the request. The portal is free at any volume and there is no certificate limit on it. What stretches the clock is never the portal itself; it is a missing IRM, a purpose code that needs amending at the bank, or an advance payment whose shipment has not yet happened.

Generating the same certificate without the portal

DGFT issues the certificate whichever route you take, and the portal route above is complete. The eBRC exporter app runs the same eight steps for you: connect your DGFT account once, and inward remittances arrive on their own with a status, each already matched to the shipping bill and invoice it paid for. You look the match over and file, one at a time or a whole spreadsheet at once, and the certificate is usually back in about two hours as a PDF with its number, in a ledger that exports to Excel. The steps above become one: confirm.

It is free at any volume, with no certificate limit and no card at sign-up. Create an account, or read how the three routes compare in the easiest way to generate an eBRC.

Frequently asked questions

How do I generate an eBRC on the DGFT portal?

Sign in at dgft.gov.in, go to Services, then eBRC, then Generate e-BRC. Choose the eBRC type, enter the IRM number and the amount of that remittance you are applying, fill the shipping bill or invoice details, declare deductions, tick the declaration and click Generate e-BRC. The e-BRC number is shown immediately, and the certificate is printed from My Dashboard, Repositories, Bills Repository.

Do I need a digital signature to generate an eBRC?

Not for a single certificate. Generating one eBRC is a declaration tick and the Generate e-BRC button. A digital signature or e-Sign is used to link your user id to your IEC, to sign a bulk upload before it is submitted, and to submit a cancellation.

Can I generate one eBRC against several remittances?

For goods and deemed exports, yes, provided the remittances share the same currency, the same bank name and bank account number, the same branch and the same purpose code, with P0103 advance payments as the one exception that may be clubbed with others. For service exports, IT and non IT, clubbing is not allowed: one remittance produces one certificate.

Can I generate an eBRC if the shipping bill is not showing in EDPMS?

Yes. DGFT allows the exporter to enter the shipping bill details on the generation form and generate the certificate on that basis. EDPMS and the eBRC system are separate systems.

How long does eBRC generation take, and what does it cost?

Your part takes minutes and the certificate is usually back in about two hours once DGFT has processed the request. The DGFT portal route is free at any volume and there is no certificate limit on it.