Import Export Code (IEC) Registration - Fees, Documents, Process, Validity

Since discussion about business can’t be completed without mentioning the profit and the loss. Our focus is to provide legal benefit to your business, so we would be taking the profit portion forward. The government has made trade facilitation a priority in order to minimize transaction costs and time, making Indian exports more competitive. For the benefit of import and export trade, the various provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy and steps taken by the government in the direction of trade facilitation are consolidated.

Want to know how IEC could be useful for your business? Let’s have a look how IEC can help you as an exporter or importer:

1. Overseas Trading:

Import Export Code provides you the facility to expand your business over foreign countries. The basic and most important thing you would need while trading oversea is the Importer Exporter Code. IEC opens your road to expansion and growth on foreign lands.

2. Legalise Business overseas:

The code provides you the license to export your goods and services to any other country and to import the essentials of your business to your own country. It makes your trade over cross borders easy and legal.

3. Online Service:

Now Obtaining IEC could be avail at the ease of sitting home. If you provide accurate and all documents then you could have it at your home. The need to hustle to the government office will not come into the way.

4. Export/Import subsidies:

The government offers benefits such as export subsidies and excise tax concessions in case of import. If the import is completed within the specified time period, some tax relief might be available. In the case of exports, the government offers a subsidy on all the exports taxes. These advantages are only available to those who are enrolled with the IEC.

5. Necessity at Customs:

The importer's IEC Code must be declared to Customs, and the Bill of Lading must reflect this. All bills of lading for cargo destined for or trans-shipped through Indian ports must include the Indian consignee's IEC Code.

6. Facilitates Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT):

EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) is a new service offered to exporters that allows them to submit their license fee via the Internet rather than visiting a bank to make the payment. This procedure is being proposed to make electronic payments more convenient. Only electronically filed applications will be accepted.

Before proceeding to the import export license process lets have information regarding the documents needed to get Import Export Code License Online in India. The nature of the firm obtaining an IEC may be any of the follows- "Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, LLP, Private Limited Company & Public Limited Company, Trust, HUF and Society."

The documents required for an IEC code are as follows:

1. PAN of the business entity
2. Address Proof of the applicant’s entity (electricity bill)
3. Registration/Certification Number
4. Bank account details of the entity with Cancelled Cheque
5. Identity proof (Aadhaar Card, Voter Id Card, Passport)
6. Passport size photograph

You can get an Import Export License online as well as offline. Apply for import export license one must be aware of the process of obtaining IEC code. The overall process is breakdowned into five major steps. Let’s know about them in detail:

Step 1. Registration on Government Portal

The very first step for obtaining an Import Export License online is the registration part. One can register online through the government portal of DGFT.

Step 2. Documentation

The very next step after registration is the applying phase. All the documents are arranged and prepared for application. You may already know about all the documents required for export and import application online as we have discussed earlier.

Step 3. Application for Import Export License

The next step combines the form filling along with the documents uploading.The “ANF2A” (Aayat Niryat Form 2A) is required to fill along with all the necessary documents attached.

Step 4. Verification by DGFT

After submission of your application form, it is sent to the DGFT for verification of the documents. Your application may get approved or rejected based on the documents you have uploaded. So one must be very careful regarding the documents they need to upload.

Step 5. Approval and Issuance of IEC Code

This is the final step of obtaining your Import Export Code. Once your IEC application is approved by DGFT, your Import Export Code would be issued to you. In case of online application you will get e-IEC, once approved by competent authority. You will be informed through email that your e-IEC is available on DGFT website.

Unlike other government licenses, the Import Export Code (IEC) does not have an expiry date. However, after the amendments in Import Export Code related provisions under Chapter 1 and 2 of Foreign Trade Policy on 12th February, 2021 Import Export Code now has to be renewed each and every year. This amendment made the update of IEC code details mandatory for all IEC or e-IEC holders on DGFT portal each year. Even if there are no updates in IEC, the same has to be confirmed online

You need more than just an Import Export Code to operate an export business in india. Although the IE Code is a necessary for beginning export operations, having one is not sufficient. There are other mandatory documents and registrations in place to get going.

The requirements depend on the type of product you are exporting. There are Export Promotion councils for each commodity and you must obtain registration for each commodities you want to export.

For Example - If you are a Spices exporter, you must obtain a Spice Board Registration to export spices from India . Similarly, Tea Board Registration and Coffee Board registration are required for exporting Tea and coffee, respectively.

There are several other Export Promotion Councils like APEDA, Rubber Board, MPEDA, TEXPROCIL, CAPEXIL and so on. Apart from that, AD code Registration is required for Foreign transactions and Customs clearance at ports.