RBI's payment rules and deadlines (FEMA 2026)

RBI's Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, notification FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB, came into force on 1 October 2026. RBI's directions to banks, A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 20, took effect the same day and replaced the old Master Directions on Export and on Import.

They apply to exports and imports made on or after 1 October 2026. Earlier ones stay under the 2015 regulations, FEMA 23(R)/2015-RB, so check an older shipment with your bank.

• Goods: declare every export on an Export Declaration Form (EDF) at the time of export. At ports on customs' electronic system, the shipping bill counts as your EDF. An SEZ unit declares to its Development Commissioner.
• Services and software: file the EDF within 30 days after the end of the month in which you raised the invoice. One EDF can cover the whole month. Services are declared to your bank, software to your bank or STPI.
• Services other than software: you may instead file on or before the day the payment arrives.
• Late? Your bank can give you more time if it finds your reasons reasonable.
• Samples, gifts and goods sent for repair no longer have an EDF exemption. Only a traveller's personal effects are left out.

• Get the full export value within 9 months: from the shipment date for goods, and from the invoice date for services and software.
• If the export is invoiced or settled in rupees, you have 12 months.
• Goods sent to a warehouse abroad: 9 months, or 12 in rupees, from the day they are sold from the warehouse. Project exports follow the contract's payment terms.
• Your bank can extend the deadline if you explain the delay and it is satisfied with your reasons.
• Still unpaid more than a year after the due date, or after the extended date? From then on you may export only against full advance payment or an irrevocable letter of credit.

• Up to ₹10 lakh per shipping bill or invoice, your bank can close the EDPMS entry on your own declaration that you were paid, in full or otherwise. You can also declare once a quarter for many entries.
• Paid less than the export value? Your bank can accept the lower amount if it is satisfied with your reasons. Up to ₹10 lakh per shipping bill or invoice, your declaration is enough.
• Set-off: your bank can let you set export receivables against import payables with the same overseas buyer or supplier, or its group or associate companies, within the time allowed to be paid.
• Third parties: your bank can let a third party pay you, or let you pay one, if it is satisfied the deal is genuine.
• Advances: take an export advance and the rest of the payment through the same bank. To switch banks, tell both.

• Pay within the period in your contract. Your bank can extend it if you explain the delay.
• Your bank decides whether to allow an advance, and can set an amount above which it asks for a standby letter of credit or a bank guarantee.
• No advance payment is allowed for imports of gold or silver.
• If the import does not happen within the contract period, bring the advance back to India. If you do not, every later import advance needs an unconditional, irrevocable standby letter of credit or a guarantee from an international bank of repute.
• Up to ₹10 lakh per bill of entry or invoice, your declaration is enough for the bank to close the entry in IDPMS, RBI's import counterpart to EDPMS.

• 9 months to be paid, or 12 in rupees. The rules RBI published in January 2026 said 15 and 18 months; an amendment of 22 September 2026 cut them before they took effect.
• No EDF waiver for free-of-cost exports: RBI withdrew the circular that allowed it.
• No fixed USD 200,000 line for import advances: each bank now sets its own amount above which it asks for a standby letter of credit or a guarantee.
• New: the ₹10 lakh declaration route for closing EDPMS and IDPMS entries.
• Cases from before 1 October 2026 that needed RBI's approval under the 2015 rules are now handled by your bank.