SOFTEX in 2026: What Changed, and What Software Exporters File Now
For years, software exports ran on a form called SOFTEX and a queue at STPI. The 2026 export regulations redrew that map. If you export software or IT services, here is what you actually file now, and how it becomes your certificate.
What SOFTEX was, and why it existed
Goods leaving India announce themselves through a shipping bill at customs. Software leaving India crosses no port, so the regulator needed another way to know an export happened. That was SOFTEX: a declaration of the software or IT services exported, certified by a Specified Authority, historically STPI or a SEZ authority, so the value could enter the RBI's monitoring system and wait for its payment.
The chain has always been the same shape: declare the export, get it certified, let the value sit in EDPMS as an open entry, realise the payment, and close the loop with an eBRC when incentives or evidence are needed.
What the 2026 regulations changed
- One declaration. The 2026 export and import regulations unified export declarations under a single Export Declaration Form. The SOFTEX role, declaring a software export, lives inside that unified framework rather than as its own island.
- Banks join STPI as certifiers. AD banks are recognised as a Specified Authority alongside STPI. For software exporters in the Domestic Tariff Area, certification can now happen at the bank, which turns a weeks-long STPI queue into part of normal banking.
- Faster entry into the ledger. Banks are expected to enter declaration details into EDPMS within five working days of receipt, and the system matches inward remittances against declarations to support certificate generation.
What a software exporter actually does now
- Declare every export. Contract, invoice, and the declaration for the software or services supplied. Nothing downstream exists until this exists.
- Pick your certification path. STPI and SEZ units continue through their authority. DTA exporters should ask their AD bank about bank-side certification under the 2026 regulations, and use whichever path their bank supports cleanly.
- Watch the entry appear. Certified declarations flow into EDPMS. That entry is your export, formally. Track it the way you track remittances.
- Map the money when it lands. The inward remittance against a software export maps to the declaration the way a goods remittance maps to a shipping bill. That mapping is what your certificate certifies. The filing flow is in how to generate an eBRC, step by step.
- Mind the clock. The nine month realisation period applies to software the same as to goods.
Where the eBRC fits for software and services
The certificate is the same instrument whatever you export: proof that a specific payment realised a specific export. In filing terms, software and IT services run as their own export types, Softex for software exports and Service for services outside IT, and the mapping exercise is identical: this remittance, that declaration, deductions declared where they belong. GST refunds on service exports lean on exactly this evidence; the mechanics are in eBRC for GST refunds.
When the declaration side settles, the certificate side takes minutes from a free account, the Softex export type included, with no portal navigation.
Frequently asked questions
Is SOFTEX discontinued in 2026?
The standalone ritual changed; the obligation did not. The 2026 regulations unified export declarations, and software exports are declared within that framework. The declaration an exporter used to know as SOFTEX now lives inside the unified system, with AD banks joining STPI as certifying authorities.
Who certifies a software export declaration now?
STPI and SEZ authorities continue for their units, and under the 2026 regulations AD banks are recognised as a Specified Authority as well, which lets Domestic Tariff Area exporters certify through their bank.
Do software exporters still need an eBRC?
Yes. Realisation still needs certifying for incentives, GST refunds on services, and audits. The certificate is generated by mapping the inward remittance to the declared export, exactly as for goods.
How fast do declarations reach EDPMS now?
Under the 2026 regulations, banks are expected to enter declaration details into EDPMS within five working days of receipt, after which remittances can be matched against the entry.
