Today the need to grow can be seen in all the start-ups. Every entrepreneur wants to expand his/her business in international markets for wider reach and faster growth.Expansion of business to international markets comes with the basic compliance of attaining the IEC.    

“Importer Exporter Code” (IEC) is a unique 10 digit code issued by DGFT – Director General of Foreign Trade , Ministry of Commerce, Government of India to Indian Companies. An IEC is necessary carrying out activity of for import/export of goods and services and to proceed with the remittances abroad.

With the technology boom in India and the various departmental sectors being transferred to online support, application for obtaining IEC has also been made mandatory online.The department, with the Public Notice No. 76 dated the 27th of November, 2014made it mandatory to follow the online application process for IEC with effect from 1st Jan, 2015. This was brought in with a view tospeed up the process of application and make it easy for the user to apply from anywhere without having to knock the doors of local department office.

But regretfully, due to some technical glitch in the DGFT website, users are not being able to follow the online process of application and are required to wait for the issue to get resolved.

Looking further to this matter, the department issued a notice on 6th Jan, 2015, Vide the Public Notice No. 80 (RE-2013) stating that mandatory online application would be deferred till later notified date.The problem is expected to get resolved by the month of February and have asked users to follow the manual process of application.

Click here to download a copy of the notification

 Procedure for obtaining IEC:

1) An application must be made in the AayaatNiryaat Form 2A (ANF 2A) format to the Regional Authority of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in the region where the registered office of the company is situated.

Following documents are required for obtaining new IEC:

Sr. No.	Documents	For Proprietorship	For Partnership	For Private Ltd./ Ltd.
	PAN Card	Personal PAN Card	Company’s PAN Card	Company’s PAN Card
	List of Partners/ Directors	Residential address, Pin Code, Phone Number, Father’s Name	Residential address, Pin Code, Phone Number on letter head.	List of Directors with, residential address, Pin Code, Phone Number on letter head.
	Memorandum and Articles of Association	N.A.	Partnership Deed-duly notarized, copy duly self certified.	MOA
	Current Account	Any National / International Bank
	Bank Certificate	As per Appendix attached
	Photographs (Passport Size)	4 Nos.	Any one of Signing Authority – (4 Nos.)	Any one of Signing Authority – (4 Nos) with mobile number
	Company’s Letter heads	Two Nos.	Two Nos.	Two Nos.
	Phone and E-mail	Applicable
	Type of Exporter	Merchant/Manufacturer/Service/Other/Merchant cum Manufacturer (if manufacturer, SSI(MSME)/IEM/Ind.Licence)
	Date of formation of company	As per Pan Card	As per Deed agreement	As per Registrar Of Companies

 

2) The DGFT has provided online filing facility for obtaining IEC and other authorizations. Form ANF 2A requires basic details of the business and its proprietors, partners or directors (as applicable), bank account details and a bank certificate (where the business has an account) stating the period for which the business has an account with the bank. This service as stated above by us it under construction.

Permanent Account Number (PAN) is pre-requisite for grant of an IEC. And only one IEC can be issued against a single PAN.

Application fee is Rs 250 which can be paid through Demand Draft/ Pay Order from any designated bank in favour of Jt. DGFT, Cochin. Treasury Receipt (TR6) from the designated Central Bank of India branches is also accepted.

Lost or misplaced: The issuing authority considers requests for grant of a duplicate copy of IEC number by an application attached with an affidavit. A fee of Rs. 200 is charged.

Surrender and Cancellation:If an IEC holder does not wish to operate the allotted IEC number, he may surrender the same by informing the issuing authority. On receipt of such intimation, the issuing authority shall immediately cancel the same and electronically transmit it to DGFT for onward transmission to the Customs and Regional Authorities.

Modification in IEC:An application for modification shall be filed with the RA from where IEC was originally issued. ANF2A shall be used for modification of IEC details like name, address, constitution etc. Application for modification should be filed within 90 days of the modification, after which a penalty as per Para 9.1 of HBP v1 shall be charged as additional application fees of Rs. 1000.

IEC allotment letter is sent through post at the registered office mentioned by the applicant in the application. Similarly deficiency letters are sent to applicant by post.

Following categories of importers or exporters are exempted from obtaining IECnumber:

(i) Importers covered by clause 3(1) [except sub-clauses(e) and (l)] and exporters covered by clause 3(2) [except sub-clauses (i) and (k)] of Foreign Trade(Exemption from application of Rules in certain cases) Order, 1993.

(ii) Ministries / Departments of Central or State Government.

(iii) Persons importing or exporting goods for personal use not connected with trade or manufacture or agriculture.

(iv) Persons importing / exporting goods from / to Nepal, Myanmar through IndoMyanmar border areas and China (through Gunji, NamgayaShipkila and Nathulaports), provided CIF value of a single consignment does not exceed Indian Rs.25, 000. In case of Nathula port, the applicable value ceiling will be Rs.100,000.

However, exemption from obtaining IEC number shall not be applicable for export of Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipments and Technologies (SCOMET) as listed in Appendix- 3, Schedule 2 of ITC (HS) except in case of exports by category (ii) above.

(v) Following permanent IEC numbers shall be used by non-commercial PSUs and Categories of importers /exporters mentioned against them for import / export purposes:

1. IEC- 0100000011- All Ministries / Departments of Central Government and agencies wholly or partially owned by them.

2. IEC- 0100000029- All Ministries / Departments of any State Government and agencies wholly or partially owned by them.

3. IEC- 0100000037- Diplomatic personnel, Counsell or officers in India and officials of UNO and its specialized agencies.

4. IEC- 0100000045- Indians returning from / going abroad and claiming benefit under Baggage Rules.

5. IEC- 0100000053- Persons / Institutions / Hospitals importing or exporting goods for personnel use, not connected with trade or manufacture or agriculture.

6. IEC- 0100000061- Persons importing / exporting goods from / to Nepal.

7. IEC- 0100000070- Persons importing / exporting goods from / to Myanmar through Indo-Myanmar border areas.

8. IEC- 0100000088- Ford Foundation

9. IEC- 0100000096- Importers importing goods for display or use in fairs /exhibitions or similar events under provisions of ATA carnet. This IEC numbercan also be used by importers importing for exhibitions/fairs.

10. IEC- 0100000100- Director, National Blood Group Reference Laboratory, Bombay or their authorized offices.

11. IEC- 0100000126- Individuals / Charitable Institution / Registered NGOs importing goods, which have been exempted from Customs duty under Notification issued by Ministry of Finance for bonafide use by victims affected by natural calamity.

12. IEC- 0100000134- Persons importing / exporting permissible goods as notified from time to time, from / to China through Gunji, NamgayaShipkilaand Nathula ports, subject to value ceilings of single consignment.

13. IEC- 0100000169- Non-commercial imports and exports by entities whohave been authorized by Reserve Bank of India.

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