The Directorate General of Foreign Trade eliminates the submission of physical duty payment challans for Export Obligation Discharge Certificate applications under the Advance Authorisation and EPCG Schemes through API integration with ICEGATE.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has removed the requirement for exporters to submit physical duty payment challans when applying for Export Obligation Discharge Certificates (EODC) under the Advance Authorisation (AA) and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Schemes. The measure applies to voluntary duty payments made on or after August 1, 2026. DGFT has implemented an API-based data exchange with ICEGATE under which licence-wise duty payment particulars are transmitted electronically from Customs systems directly into DGFT’s EODC processing workflow, enabling authenticated verification without manual submission. Authenticated payment details will be made available to exporters on the DGFT Customer Portal, enabling them to verify that payments have been correctly mapped to the concerned authorisation before filing applications. The same authenticated records will be accessible to Regional Authorities on the DGFT Back Office, eliminating manual verification of payment particulars and expected to facilitate faster processing, reduce avoidable correspondence and bring greater consistency in decision-making across DGFT Regional Authorities. Trade Notice No. 15/2026-27 dated August 5, 2026 has been issued by DGFT for the information of exporters and other stakeholders.
The Advance Authorisation Scheme permits duty-free import of inputs physically incorporated in export products, while the EPCG Scheme permits import of capital goods at concessional or zero customs duty, in both cases against an export obligation. Where the export obligation is not fulfilled in full, the authorisation holder regularises the case by voluntarily paying the proportionate customs duty saved along with applicable interest, and thereafter applies for an EODC to close the authorisation. Previously, proof of such payment was required to be submitted in physical form and verified manually by the Regional Authority. The elimination of physical documentation is expected to shorten processing timelines, improve data accuracy, minimise human intervention and reduce transaction costs and compliance burden for exporters, particularly MSME exporters handling closure formalities in-house.
Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)
