An e-BRC certificate is an important certificate that is required for businesses dealing with exports. An e-BRC serves as a vital economic indicator and an important source of financial information, this certificate is issued by a bank in order to make sure that the payment was made by the buyer to the exporter for the exporting of goods and services. A valid e-BRC should be issued to those businesses that provide export benefits under FTP.
The bank issues a Bank Realization Certificate (BRC) to show that the exporter has received payment from an importer for the exported goods. Exporters must report to the bank the value of goods they intend to export. The export transactions will be documented by the bank on the Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS). The exporters should submit all shipping bills to the bank upon receiving the payments. The banks will cancel the items recorded in the EDPMS and issue an e-BRC against the shipping bill payments.
To avail of different export incentives offered by the government, such as subsidies, low-cost loans, duty exemptions, etc, as part of its FTP, the exports need to have a BRC. before introducing e-BRC, exporters used to go to their banks to apply for the issue of BRC.bank supplied the BRC in a tangible form, and the exporters submitted the BRC to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) regional authority, and the transaction details of the exports were entered manually according to the BRC. It turned out a time-consuming and complicated process of claiming export incentives. Things got easy with the introduction of the e-BRC by the DGFT.
The e-BRC stands for Electronic Bank Realisation Certificate, an initiative by the DGFT to promote paperless trade and digitalise BRCs. The DGFTserver, which is protected by a digital signature, requires banks to send BRC data electronically. e-BRC are the BRCS that the banks transmit electronically.
Electronic documents known as e-BRCs, serve as proof of payment received by exporters in relation to trade transactions. E-BRCS systematically record foreign trade transactions. The earlier e-BRC portal was stopped in July 2022. The DGFT BRC new portal operates now, and the Authorised Dealer (AD) banks must move to the new DGFT e-BRC portal and upload e-BRCs on the DGFT website. Through the EDI ports, DGFT electronically receives shipping bill information. With the integration of the bank, Foreign currency realisation details may be connected to all shipping bills is being received by DGFT. The value at which the exporter will receive an incentive is verified by linking the data from the shipping bills (FOB value of exported items) and the e-BRC (Final payment received against export). Exporters using EDI shipping bills should link the relevant shipping bill and e-BRC online in order to be eligible for an incentive. They are not required to send paper copies to the DGFT.
• When the exporter receives the entire shipping bill payment in the bank account within nine months of the shipping bill date, they will submit an Electronic Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (eFIRCs) and export documents with the respective bank.
• BRC will be generated by the bank upon receipt of the export payments.
The bank staff generates an XML file containing information about e-BRC and will digitally sign it.
• The e-BRC will be uploaded by the bank on the DGFT server once or twice daily at a predetermined frequency.
• The banks will be uploading rupees equivalent to the realised foreign exchange based on the exchange rate defined by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).
• The server gives acknowledgment to the bank about XML files being uploaded.
• The exporter can view the status and print/download the e-BRCs from the DGFT website and claim export incentives.
TA certificate issued by the bank as proof of international payments for exports consisting of all the remittance details is known as a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC). It serves as documentation of a transfer of foreign money. It keeps track of the transfer source as well as the amount in foreign currency and rupees in India. When they receive payments from sources outside of India, sellers and service exporters ought to obtain FIRC.
Importance of DGFT e-BRC
• Businesses that request benefits under the Foreign Trade Policy must provide proof of export in the form of an e-BRC.
• It also serves as proof of payment for an export transaction.
To ensure compliance, taxpayers must be aware of key dates related to income tax:
• Business name
• Shipping bill
• Bank details
• IEC
Follow the given process to download your e-BRC:
• Login to the DGFT website.
• On the website click on the “My Dashboard” option and select the “Repositories” option.
• Click on the “Explore” button under the “Bills Repositories” tab.
• Choose the option “Bank Realisations (e-BRC)” from the “Select Bill” drop-down list.
• Enter the “Form Date” and “To Date” and choose “Search”.
• All e-BRC uploaded by your banks will be shown on the screen.
• To view an e-BRC uploaded from that bank, choose the Bank Realisation Number.
• The e-BRC details will be shown up on the screen.
• Click on the option “Print e-BRC” to download it.
A shipping bill is generated electronically on ICEGATE, and the information on a shipping bill is automatically and electronically shared via ICEGATE with the DGFT. To receive export incentives, an exporter must link relevant shipping bills with e-BRC.
Step 1: DGFT determines Incentive Value
When an exporter claims an export incentive under a DGFT scheme, DGFT decides the value of the incentive to be provided.
Step 2: Verifying the Export Value
The free on board (FOB) value of the exported goods as stated in the shipping bill and the total realized value against export as stated in the e-BRC are cross-checked by DGFT.
Step 3: Ensuring Accurate e-BRC Reporting
An exporter must make sure the bank reports the e-BRC value and displays the total realized value when applying for an export incentive. If the e-BRC value is less, the bank should correct it.
In conclusion, exporters need an e-BRC to claim export incentives under the FTP and GST refunds on service exports, it is generated electronically based on the information provided by the exporter, which eliminates all the physical document submissions. It also serves as a proof of realisation of export payments. Exporters can easily download and print the e-BRC from the DGFT portal.
The electronic Bank Realisation Certificate is known as e-BRC, it is issued by the DGFT as a confirmation that the exporter has received the payments from the buyer for the goods or services exported.
An Inward Remittance Message Number (IRM) is a reference number assigned by the bank to an inward remittance transaction. It is used for identifying the transaction and linking it to the exporter’s account.
The difference between e-BRC and FIRC is that e-BRC focuses on the outflow of money for specific trade activities and FIRC focuses on the inflow of money from foreign sources.
It also helps exporters get export incentives under the FTP and GST refunds, and it serves as a source of financial information and also acts as an economic indicator.
