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An eBRC (electronic Bank Realisation Certificate) is the official record that an exporter’s foreign payment was realised against an export. It is issued through DGFT, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, and is a core compliance document for Indian exporters.
In one line: a shipping bill proves the goods left India. An eBRC proves the money came back and was realised.
The full form of eBRC is Electronic Bank Realisation Certificate. The “e” is for electronic; the rest describes what the certificate does, which is to record the realisation, by a bank, of the proceeds of an export.

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Why an eBRC matters

  • Proof of realisation. An eBRC confirms that the export proceeds, the foreign payment for a shipment or invoice, were actually received. It ties an inward remittance to the export it settles.
  • FEMA compliance. Inward remittances against exports are tracked under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Export proceeds must be realised within the period the RBI prescribes in its Master Direction on Export of Goods and Services, and the eBRC is the record that links a remittance to a specific export and closes it out.
  • Export incentives. Exporters need eBRCs to claim benefits and remissions such as RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) and Duty Drawback, and to support DGFT and export promotion schemes.
  • GST refunds. For the export of services, realisation of payment in convertible foreign exchange is a condition for the supply to count as an export, so an eBRC or FIRC is often part of a GST refund claim. See the CBIC for the GST rules.

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Self-certification: how an eBRC is created today

DGFT revamped the eBRC system in November 2023 so that exporters self-certify. The flow is:
1

The bank transmits the remittance

When a foreign payment arrives, the exporter’s bank transmits the Inward Remittance Message (IRM) to DGFT electronically.
2

The exporter matches it to an export

The IEC holder matches each IRM to the shipping bill, SOFTEX, or invoice it pays for.
3

The eBRC is generated

DGFT issues the eBRC, which is then available as a certificate PDF and can be used to claim incentives and evidence realisation.
The bank no longer issues the certificate by hand at a branch. This is the process the eBRC API carries end to end for platforms filing for many exporters.

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Key terms

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eBRC, BRC, and FIRC

An eBRC is the electronic form of the older paper BRC, so those two are the same certificate in different eras. A FIRC is broader: it proves that foreign money arrived, for any reason, and it does not by itself tie the payment to a specific export. That is why DGFT incentive schemes are claimed against the eBRC, not a FIRC.

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Primary sources

This documentation is for the eBRC API, which generates and manages eBRCs programmatically for platforms that file on behalf of many exporters.