Availing oneself of export benefits from the Government could soon be a breeze with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) launching a new initiative — “e-BRC” on Tuesday.
The e-BRC initiative would lead to electronic transmission of foreign exchange realisation certificate from the banks to the DGFT's server on a daily basis. With the launch of this facility, there will be minimum human interface between the Commerce Ministry and the exporting community for grant of benefits.
This initiative will help reduce transaction cost to exporters, who will not be required to make any request to bank for issuance of bank export and realisation certificate (BRC).
It would establish a seamless electronic data interchange (EDI) connectivity among GFT, banks and exporters, Mr Anand Sharma, the Commerce and Industry Minister, announced here as part of the annual supplement to foreign trade policy.
Already, shipping bills are flowing electronically from customs EDI to DGFT. Now DGFT has tied up with some banks to get the BRC electronically. Both would be matched before export incentives are provided to exporters.
“This initiative is a good beginning. Exporters will now push their banks to join this initiative and the coverage can be expanded,” Mr Ajai Sahai, Director-General, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said.
At present, almost 90 per cent of India's merchandise exports in value terms go through EDI ports. In 2011-12, India's merchandise exports stood at $302 billion, registering a 21 per cent increase over exports of $251 billion in the previous year.