India’s central bank has simplified foreign-exchange declarations for service trade, letting resident individuals rely on payment details and setting thresholds for other exports and some imports.
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2026, are dated Monday, Nov. 2, and apply from Oct. 1, 2026. The change revises reporting under the service-trade framework introduced earlier this year, specifying when an Export Declaration Form (EDF) can be treated as submitted without a separate filing.
A resident individual exporter qualifies by giving an authorized dealer bank the information it requires about the payment so the bank can credit the exporter’s account. The amendment defines a resident individual as a natural person resident in India. It does not itemize the information banks must collect.
For a person who is not a resident individual, an export declaration is also deemed submitted if the inward remittance for the service is ₹10 lakh or less, or the equivalent in foreign currency. This test is based on the inward remittance for the service.
The general service-export rule requires exporters to submit an EDF declaring the full export value within 30 days after the end of the invoice month. The wider framework also allows one form to cover services provided to multiple recipients during a month. Exporters of services other than software may submit the form on or before receiving payment.
Import reporting has a separate threshold. When a service importer is not a resident individual and the invoice or contract value exceeds ₹10 lakh, the authorized dealer bank must enter details in the RBI’s Import Data Processing and Monitoring System (IDPMS) within five working days of receiving them. The import test uses invoice or contract value, while the export threshold for other persons is based on inward remittance.
In January, the RBI said the broader rules were intended to make compliance easier for small exporters and importers. The amendment sets different reporting treatment for individual service exporters, other exporters with smaller inward remittances, and imports above the specified invoice-value threshold.
