Craft · Ledger
Six steps to become export-ready from India.
IEC, AD Code, GST registration with LUT, ICEGATE registration, shipping-bill filing, and RCMC — in that rough order of dependency. This ledger states which authority issues each one, what it actually is, its typical cost, its validity or renewal cadence, and where to file it. It deliberately does not calculate customs duty for you — that number depends on your HS code and destination market, and belongs in a live tariff-lookup tool, not a static page.
DGFT, the GST Portal and ICEGATE (Indian Customs) — three separate logins, one sequence.
01 — Before The Ledger
What you're browsing for vs. what actually blocks you.
Most people land on a page like this searching for a single number — "cost to start exporting from India," "how much is an IEC." The honest answer is that the cost is small; the thing that actually blocks first-time exporters is sequence and dependency, not fees:
- ICEGATE registration needs a valid IEC first — you cannot register on Customs' filing system without one.
- A shipping bill needs both an AD Code and an ICEGATE registration in place — Customs will not release a consignment without the AD Code confirming who handles your foreign-exchange remittance.
- An IEC left un-updated between April and June each year goes inactive — a compliance step that costs nothing but is easy to forget, and expensive to discover only when a shipment is stuck at port.
- RCMC is conditional, not universal — you only need it if you intend to claim Foreign Trade Policy incentives or engage EPC trade-promotion support, not to trade at all.
The ledger below is ordered to make that dependency chain visible, and the checklist after it turns the sequence into something you can tick off.
02 — The Ledger
Search, sort, filter.
Click a column header to sort; use the search box or the cadence filter to narrow the list. All data is static and client-side.
| IEC Importer-Exporter Code | DGFT | One-time setup | A 10-digit code identical to your PAN; mandatory before any commercial import or export.1 | ₹500 government fee on fresh application; no fee for the annual no-change confirmation.2 | Lifetime — but must be confirmed/updated online every Apr–Jun or DGFT deactivates it (Notification No. 58/2015-2020, 12 Feb 2021).2 | dgft.gov.in, fully online |
| AD Code Authorised Dealer Code | Your bank, registered with Customs | One-time setup | A code your bank issues confirming it will handle your export's foreign-exchange remittance; Customs needs it before releasing a shipping bill.3 | No government fee; your bank may levy its own account/service charges. | No expiry once registered. Since a June 2022 systems change, one registration at a single port applies at all customs stations under the same IEC.3 | Apply at your bank; register on ICEGATE |
| GST + LUT Letter of Undertaking | GST Department / GST Portal | Annual | GST registration is baseline for any registered supplier; the LUT (Form GST RFD-11) additionally lets you export goods or services as zero-rated supply, without paying IGST upfront.4 | No fee for GST registration or for filing the LUT. | The LUT is financial-year specific — its status changes to "Expired" at the end of the FY and must be re-filed before your first export of the new year.4 | gst.gov.in → Services > User Services > Furnish LUT |
| ICEGATE Registration | Indian Customs (CBIC) | One-time setup | Registration on the Indian Customs EDI gateway, required to file shipping bills and bills of entry electronically and to track consignments.5 | No government registration fee; a paid Class-3 Digital Signature Certificate from a licensed Certifying Authority is a required prerequisite.5 | Registration itself does not expire; the Digital Signature Certificate has its own validity period as issued (commonly 1–2 years) and must be renewed separately. | icegate.gov.in |
| Shipping Bill Filing | Indian Customs, via ICEGATE or a broker | Per-shipment | The mandatory electronic export declaration for every consignment, filed directly or through a licensed Customs House Agent (CHA), triggering customs assessment and the let-export order.5 | No government filing fee for the declaration itself; a broker/CHA typically charges a per-shipment service fee (varies by agent and cargo). | Per-consignment — not a standing registration. | ICEGATE, or your customs broker at the port of export |
| RCMC Registration-cum-Membership Certificate | Export Promotion Council / Commodity Board / FIEO | 5-year renewal | Certifies your line of business with a recognised trade body; required to access Foreign Trade Policy incentives, and to register on an EPC's own portal. If your product has no dedicated council, FIEO issues it instead.6 | EPC/FIEO membership and processing fee, which varies by council — not a single fixed figure. | Five financial years: valid from 1 April of the licensing year to 31 March five years later.6 | dgft.gov.in → Services > e-RCMC |
Method: rendered as static HTML so the full ledger is present without JavaScript; search, sort and filter enhance it client-side.
03 — Checklist
Export-readiness, ticked off.
A plain completion count — six boxes, checked or not. There is no score, band or "readiness percentage" here: whether step six (RCMC) applies to you at all depends on whether you intend to claim Foreign Trade Policy incentives, so a universal target of 6-of-6 would be dishonest for every business.
Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere — it resets on reload. It's a working aid for your own review, not a submission.
04 — FAQ
Common questions.
Does this page calculate the customs duty I'll pay?
No, deliberately. Duty and tariff rates change by HS code, country of origin and destination market, and any static number here would be wrong within months. For an actual applicable rate, use ITC's Market Access Map or the WTO's Tariff Analysis Online — both are free, official lookup tools built for exactly this.
What's the difference between an IEC and an RCMC?
An IEC (from DGFT) is the base permission to trade at all — without it you cannot legally import or export commercially. An RCMC (from an Export Promotion Council or FIEO) is a separate certificate of your line of business with a recognised trade body, needed only if you want to access Foreign Trade Policy incentives or EPC-organised trade support. You can hold an IEC without ever needing an RCMC.
Do I need an AD Code if I only export services, not physical goods?
AD Code registration and shipping-bill filing are customs mechanisms tied specifically to physical goods crossing a port — they don't apply the same way to a pure services export. Services exporters still need GST/LUT compliance for zero-rated invoicing and a banking arrangement (an FIRC, Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate) to receive payment, but the goods-specific steps on this page are scoped to physical trade.
Is the IEC application fee a one-time cost?
The government fee is charged once, at fresh application. The IEC itself then has lifetime validity with no renewal fee — but every IEC holder must confirm or update their details online each year between April and June, or DGFT deactivates the code.
What happens if my IEC gets deactivated for missing the annual update?
Customs will not clear import or export consignments against a deactivated IEC, banks will decline to process linked international trade payments, any pending export-incentive claims are put on hold, and EPC/RCMC registration tied to that IEC is blocked — until the update is filed and the code is reactivated.
05 — Sources
Where each step and figure comes from
- DGFT — “Profile Management (IEC) FAQs,” v1.0. Confirms the IEC's PAN-based structure and application process.content.dgft.gov.in/Website/DGFT%20-%20Profile%20Management%20(IEC)%20FAQs%20v1.0.pdf · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- DGFT Notification No. 58/2015-2020, dated 12 Feb 2021 — the mandatory annual IEC updation requirement (Apr–Jun window) and deactivation consequence, as reported across independent professional compliance sources (Taxguru, Vishnu Daya & Co LLP, HLS Global) in the absence of a directly fetchable DGFT notification archive.dgft.gov.in · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- Directorate General of Systems & Data Management (DGoS), Advisory No. 10/2022, dated 14 Jun 2022 — single AD Code registration valid across all Indian customs ports, as reported across independent customs-compliance sources.icegate.gov.in · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- GST Portal — “Furnishing of Letter of Undertaking for Export of Goods or Services (FORM GST RFD-11),” official user-guide FAQ, confirming financial-year validity and the Rule 96A basis.tutorial.gst.gov.in/userguide/refund/Furnishing_of_Letter_of_Undertaking_for_Export_of_Goods_or_Services.htm · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- ICEGATE registration requirements — IEC/GST/PAN prerequisites and the mandatory Class-3 Digital Signature Certificate, as reported across independent customs-filing compliance sources; underlying legal basis is Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) Rule 96A read with the ICES electronic-filing framework.icegate.gov.in · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- DGFT — “e-RCMC Customer Portal User Help File,” v2.0, May 2022. Confirms the five-financial-year RCMC validity period (1 April of issuance year to 31 March five years later) and FIEO's role for products without a dedicated council.content.dgft.gov.in/Website/e-RCMC%20Customer%20Portal%20User%20Help%20File%20v2.0.pdf · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- ITC (International Trade Centre) — Market Access Map. Free official tool for customs tariffs, trade remedies and regulatory requirements by product and market.macmap.org · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- World Trade Organization — Tariff Analysis Online. Official WTO tariff lookup and analysis tool, referenced alongside Market Access Map as the correct place for an actual applicable duty rate.tao.wto.org · accessed 27 Jul 2026
About this page: every step's authority, mechanics and validity period traces to a source above. Two facts (the exact AD-code advisory number/date, and the exact IEC-notification number/date) rest on consistent independent professional reporting rather than a directly fetchable government PDF or HTML page — both government sources are JavaScript-rendered portals this page's research tools could not render as plain text. No duty, tariff or fee figure beyond what a source states is asserted anywhere on this page.
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