How to Open a Foreign Currency Account in India: The Two Routes

To open a foreign currency account in India, you choose between two routes, and the right one depends on whether you want to hold foreign currency or simply get paid in it.

The first route is a bank EEFC account, an Exchange Earners' Foreign Currency account with an Authorised Dealer bank, which lets you hold export earnings in USD, EUR, GBP and other currencies.

The second route is a receiving account with a cross-border platform, which gives you local account details abroad, receives the money, and settles it to your Indian bank in rupees with a Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (eFIRA).

This guide walks through both routes step by step, including eligibility, documents and timelines. It is about accounts that hold or receive export earnings, not forex trading accounts or FCNR deposits for non-residents, which are different products.

Before you open anything, match the account to your goal. The choice usually comes down to holding versus receiving.

• You want to hold foreign currency (to pay overseas vendors, or convert later): open a bank EEFC account.
• You want to get paid by foreign clients and receive INR: open a platform receiving account.
• You want to understand the full set of options first: read the guide to the types of foreign currency account in India, which compares EEFC, RFC, FCNR and fintech receiving accounts.

If your clients pay in a specific currency, the currency-specific guides go deeper: a USD account in India for American clients, a GBP account for UK clients, and a euro bank account for eurozone clients.

The euro side is often issued as a virtual IBAN so your client can pay by SEPA.

An EEFC account is the standard way for a resident exporter to hold foreign currency.

It is a non-interest-bearing current account offered by Authorised Dealer Category-I (AD-1) banks, and you can credit up to 100% of your eligible export earnings to it.

The steps are:

1. Choose an AD-1 bank. Most major banks offer an EEFC account, so the simplest choice is the bank where you already hold your current account.
2. Complete the application. Fill in the bank's EEFC account opening form and the forex-earnings declaration.
3. Submit your documents (listed below) and any board resolution or partnership authorisation.
4. Activate and link. The account opens with zero initial pay-in and is linked to your existing current account for conversions.

Keep the main rule in mind: unutilised balances in an EEFC account must be converted to rupees by the last day of the succeeding calendar month, and the account earns no interest.

It suits businesses with genuine foreign-currency outflows or a reason to time their conversions.

If your goal is to get paid rather than to hold euros or dollars, a platform receiving account is usually quicker and cheaper.

Instead of a eurozone or US bank account, you get local receiving details that your client pays into, and the platform converts the funds to rupees.

The steps are:

1. Sign up and pick your entity type (sole proprietor, LLP, private limited).
2. Complete Know Your Business (KYB) and KYC online, which takes about ten minutes.
3. Pass the operations review, after which most accounts activate the same day.
4. Share your local details and start collecting, with settlements and an eFIRA arriving per payment.

This route gives you a US routing and account number, a UK sort code or a European IBAN depending on the client, so they pay a local transfer rather than an international wire.

Xflow's cross-border payments for service exporters solution ties these currency rails together with compliance handled.

For either route, the paperwork is broadly the same as opening a business current account:

• Identity and address proof: PAN card, Aadhaar, passport or similar.
• Business proof: GST registration, Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) where applicable, or a service contract or declaration.
• Authorisation: board resolution, partnership letter or proprietorship declaration.
• Forex-earnings declaration: stating the nature of your foreign exchange earnings, such as software or consultancy exports.
• Account details: your Indian bank details for settlement, and, for an inward wire, the bank's SWIFT code.

A little preparation avoids back-and-forth with the bank or provider:

• Confirm your entity type. Sole proprietor, LLP and private limited companies each submit slightly different authorisation documents, so have the right one ready.
• Keep your IEC handy if you trade in goods, since banks ask for the Importer-Exporter Code even though services exporters usually do not need it.
• Decide hold or convert. If you have genuine foreign-currency outflows, the bank route helps; if you only collect and spend in rupees, the platform route is simpler.
• Check the conversion rule. An EEFC balance must be converted to rupees by the end of the succeeding month, so do not treat it as a long-term savings account.
• Plan for FIRA. Make sure each payment generates an eFIRA, which you will need for GST and export reporting.

The two routes solve different problems. The table sets them side by side.

Many exporters use both: a receiving account for the inflows, feeding a bank account for anything they need to hold.

For the broader picture of routes and costs, see how to receive international payments in India, or hold several currencies through a multi-currency account.

Whichever route you choose, your export reporting continues as normal, and a good provider handles most of it:

• eFIRA and FIRC: you receive an eFIRA for each payment, and the FIRC is issued through the Indian bank. If you claim an export refund, the FIRC for GST refund process is unchanged.
• Purpose codes: each inward payment is tagged with the right RBI purpose code for inward remittance, for example P0802 for software consultancy.
• Eligibility: foreign exchange earners who are resident in India can open these accounts; personal remittances and gifts cannot be credited to an EEFC account.

A bank EEFC account usually takes a few working days, depending on the bank and your documents.

A platform receiving account is faster: with Xflow, onboarding takes about ten minutes, most accounts activate the same day, and you can transact the next business day.

Opening a receiving account is typically free, and you pay only when money is converted, through a transparent fee rather than a hidden exchange-rate markup.

Xflow holds final Payment Aggregator - Cross Border (PA-CB) authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for both exports and imports, granted in February 2026, and settles to your Indian bank on a T+1 basis.