The government fee for a new Import Export Code (IEC) from the DGFT is a one-time ₹500, paid online, and that is the only charge the DGFT levies for issuing the code.
There is no annual licence fee, no renewal cost and no per-shipment charge attached to the code itself.
Because the fee is so small, the real question for most exporters is not the price but what else you might pay around it, and whether you need an IEC in the first place.
If you are getting one so you can bill and get paid by overseas clients, the code sits alongside how you actually collect international payments in India, so it helps to see both together.
This guide lays out every DGFT fee as of August 2026, the difference between doing it yourself and paying a consultant, the annual update rule that trips people up, and the honest answer to whether freelancers and pure service exporters need an IEC at all.
How much are the IEC code fees in India?
An IEC costs ₹500 as a one-time government fee. You apply on the DGFT portal, pay online, and the code is issued electronically, usually the same day once your PAN and bank details validate.
The code never expires, so you pay this once for the life of the business.
Two points make this cleaner than it first looks:
- It is a one-time fee, not a subscription. The ₹500 is paid at issue and never again for the same entity.
- The code is PAN-based. One entity gets one IEC, tied to its PAN, so you are not paying per product, per country or per shipment. A quick IEC code verification on the DGFT portal confirms whether one already exists against your PAN.
Where extra money can appear is in amendments, a digital signature you may or may not need, and a consultant's service charge if you choose not to file yourself.
Those are the three lines that turn a ₹500 fee into a ₹4,000 quote, and none of them are the DGFT's charge.
DGFT IEC certificate fees table (as of August 2026)
The DGFT publishes its charges in Appendix 2K of the Handbook of Procedures. These are the fees that touch an IEC directly, and together they are the full picture of IEC government fees.
| Service | DGFT fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New IEC | ₹500 | One-time, paid online at issue |
| Amendment or modification of IEC | ₹200 | Per Appendix 2K, for changing details on the code |
| Annual update (1 April to 30 June) | Nil | Mandatory confirmation, no charge |
| Deactivation | No DGFT fee | Applies where the code lapses |
| Reactivation via update | No DGFT fee | Done by completing the annual update |
Figures are drawn from DGFT Appendix 2K and are worth a quick live check before you rely on them, since fee schedules can be revised.
The pattern to remember is simple: issuing costs ₹500, changing details costs ₹200, and keeping the code alive each year costs nothing.
What are the IEC registration fees and application fees?
People search for "IEC registration fees" and "IEC application fees" as if they were separate charges. They are the same thing.
Registering for an IEC and applying for one describe a single act on the DGFT portal, and the fee for that act is the one-time ₹500.
There is no split between an application fee and a registration fee, and there is no separate issuance charge on top.
So if a quote breaks the cost into an "application fee", a "registration fee" and a "processing fee", read it carefully. The government's share is a single ₹500.
Everything above that is somebody's service charge, which may be fair for the work done but is not a DGFT levy. Knowing the real number keeps you from overpaying by mistaking a bundled quote for a stack of official fees.
IEC code renewal fees: what the annual update really costs
Strictly, there is no renewal fee, because the IEC does not expire. What people call "IEC code renewal fees" is really the annual update, and it is free. The catch is that free does not mean optional.
Every IEC holder must confirm or update their IEC details on the DGFT portal between 1 April and 30 June each year, even when nothing has changed.
You are re-confirming your particulars, not amending them, which is why the DGFT charges nothing for it.
Miss the window and the code is deactivated. A deactivated IEC blocks customs clearance for goods and can hold up documentation your bank needs, so a free five-minute task turns into a reactivation exercise at the worst possible moment.
Reactivation is done by simply completing the pending update, and the DGFT does not charge for that either, but the disruption is real.
Put a recurring reminder for April, and treat the update as part of routine compliance in the same bucket as your RBI purpose code on inward payments.
DIY vs consultant: what you actually pay in IEC code charges
The ₹500 is the DGFT's number. A consultant's quote is a different thing, because most of it is a service fee for filing on your behalf.
| Route | Typical total | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | ₹500 | The DGFT fee only; you file on the portal with Aadhaar OTP |
| Consultant or agent | ₹1,500 to ₹4,500 | The ₹500 DGFT fee plus a service charge for preparing and filing the application |
A consultant fee in the ₹1,000 to ₹4,000 range typically buys form preparation, document checks, portal handling and follow-up if the application bounces. None of that is mandatory.
For a proprietor with a PAN, bank account and Aadhaar linked to a mobile number, the DIY route is genuinely a short online form.
Paying a professional makes sense mostly when you are also setting up a company, a GST registration and other approvals at once and want a single point of contact.
How to pay IEC fees: the step-by-step
The steps to file it yourself and pay the fee are short. First, register on the DGFT portal and verify your details with the OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile and email.
Next, enter the entity's PAN, address and bank account, and upload the cancelled cheque or bank certificate and the address proof the form asks for. Then pay the ₹500 online, through net banking, card or UPI, and submit.
The common reasons an application stalls are a PAN name that does not match the entity, a bank account that fails validation, or an Aadhaar mobile that is out of date, so fixing those before you start saves the most time.
There is no offline payment route and no separate invoice: the ₹500 is paid inside the application flow, and the code is issued once the payment and your details validate.
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Do you need a Digital Signature (DSC) for an IEC?
Often, no. A proprietor can usually file and sign the IEC application using Aadhaar-based OTP, which costs nothing. A DSC becomes relevant mainly for companies and LLPs, or where you prefer to sign with a token rather than OTP.
If you do buy a Class 3 DSC purely for this, expect a separate one-time cost of roughly ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 from the certifying authority, valid for a couple of years and reusable for other filings.
Do not let a consultant present a DSC as compulsory for a sole proprietor when OTP will do.
Do freelancers need an IEC code, or do service exporters skip it?
This is the part most fee guides skip, and it matters more than the ₹500. An IEC is built around the movement of goods through customs.
For pure services, the position is different: the DGFT generally does not mandate an IEC for services exports unless you are claiming a benefit under the Foreign Trade Policy.
Because this wording has shifted across policy versions, confirm the current text on the DGFT site before you decide, but the practical takeaway holds for many people.
The result is that a large share of freelancers, IT/ITeS consultants and SaaS sellers who only export services and are not chasing an FTP scheme do not strictly need an IEC to get paid.
Their inflows are handled through the banking channel with the right purpose code, not through a customs code. What still applies to service exporters is:
- A purpose code on each inward payment, so the RBI knows why the money came in.
- An AD (Authorised Dealer) code registered with your bank, which matters for exporters of goods at customs and is worth understanding even for services.
- GST treatment as an export of services, which is a separate track from the IEC entirely.
If your only reason for wanting an IEC is "I get paid from abroad", pause and check whether you are exporting goods or services, and whether any FTP benefit is actually in play.
Many service exporters spend on a code they never use, when the real costs they should watch are on the receiving side, such as the Stripe transaction fees or platform cuts taken before the money lands.
Those who do sell goods, or who want the code on file, should get it; the ₹500 is trivial and having it removes doubt.
Worked example 1: a first-time goods exporter paying ₹500 on the DGFT portal
Take Arun, who runs a handloom business in Karur and has just landed his first overseas order for cotton furnishings. Because he is shipping physical goods through customs, he needs an IEC, and he decides to file it himself.
- DGFT fee for the new IEC: ₹500, paid by UPI inside the portal
- DSC: ₹0, because he registers as a proprietor and signs with Aadhaar OTP
- Consultant charge: ₹0, because he files himself
His whole outlay to get the code is ₹500, and it arrives the same day once his PAN and bank account validate.
The code then stays valid for the life of his business, with only the free April-to-June update to remember each year.
For a genuine goods exporter, the IEC is both mandatory and cheap, and the DIY route removes any doubt about padded fees.
Worked example 2: a freelancer deciding whether she needs an IEC at all
Now take Neha, a solo UX designer in Pune who bills three US startups and receives payment by wire and through a platform. She sells only services, and she is not claiming any Foreign Trade Policy benefit.
Neha reads that the DGFT generally does not require an IEC for services exports unless an FTP benefit is in play.
She checks the current DGFT wording, confirms no scheme applies to her, and concludes she does not strictly need an IEC to get paid.
What she does need is the right purpose code on each inward payment and clean GST treatment of her work as an export of services.
She skips the code, saves the ₹500 and, more importantly, avoids a code she would never file against.
The contrast with Arun is the whole lesson. Same country, same ambition, opposite answer, because one moves goods through customs and the other exports services through the banking channel.
The question is never "do I get paid from abroad", it is "do I move goods, or claim an FTP benefit". Get that right and the IEC decision answers itself.
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Worked example 3: missing the April-June update and getting deactivated
Take Farooq, who exports leather goods and has held an IEC for years. Business was quiet one spring, he travelled through April, May and June, and he forgot the annual update entirely.
In July a buyer confirmed a large order, and his customs broker flagged that his IEC was deactivated.
Nothing was owed. The deactivation was not an unpaid fee, it was a missed confirmation.
But the effect was real: his consignment could not clear until the code was live again, and the bank paperwork tied to the shipment stalled with it.
Farooq logged into the DGFT portal, completed the pending update, and the code reactivated, again with no DGFT fee. The lost time, though, cost him a fortnight against a delivery deadline.
The fix is trivial and free, which is exactly why it gets forgotten. Set a recurring reminder for early April every year, complete the update well before 30 June, and the code simply stays alive.
Treat it as a fixed calendar item, not something to do when you next have a shipment, because a deactivated code always surfaces at the worst moment.
Worked example 4: proprietor vs company on the DSC question
Two founders apply for an IEC in the same week. Sana runs a sole proprietorship; Vikram runs a private limited company.
Sana files as a proprietor and signs with Aadhaar OTP. Her only cost is the ₹500 DGFT fee. She is done in one sitting with no signature hardware.
Vikram's company route pushes him towards a Class 3 DSC, both because companies commonly sign filings with a token and because he already needs a DSC for other corporate compliance.
His costs are the ₹500 DGFT fee plus roughly ₹1,500 for the DSC, so about ₹2,000 in the first year, and the DSC is reusable for his other filings across its validity.
The difference is entirely the entity type and the signing method, not the code.
A proprietor should not be talked into a DSC "to be safe" when OTP is accepted, while a company that needs a DSC anyway is not paying extra just for the IEC.
Match the signature to your structure and you pay only for what your entity genuinely requires.
A worked total-cost example across routes
Pulling the scenarios together shows how far the total can drift from the DGFT's ₹500.
- Solo software consultant, DIY, proprietor: ₹500 DGFT fee, ₹0 DSC, ₹0 annual update. Lifetime DGFT cost: ₹500.
- Small trading company, agent plus DSC: ₹500 DGFT fee, ₹2,000 consultant charge (illustrative, within the ₹1,500 to ₹4,500 band), ₹1,500 Class 3 DSC. First-year total: about ₹4,000, of which only ₹500 goes to the DGFT.
The gap between the two is entirely service and signature choices, not the code itself. Whenever a quote climbs, ask which line is the DGFT fee and which is service, because only the ₹500 is fixed by the government.
What the IEC fee does not cover: getting paid
An IEC lets you export; it does nothing to make the money arrive well. The receiving leg is a separate problem, and it is where costs quietly stack up through poor exchange rates and per-transfer charges.
This is worth understanding on its own, because the fees on inbound money often dwarf a one-time ₹500.
Here is where Xflow fits, stated honestly. Xflow is a cross-border receiving platform, not a customs agent and not a substitute for an IEC or an AD code.
You still register your AD code with your bank, and you still hold an IEC if you export goods or claim FTP benefits.
What Xflow gives you is a clean way to receive export payments: virtual receiving accounts, settlement through partner AD-1 banks, the mid-market rate rather than a marked-up one, and automatic eFIRA so you hold proof of realisation without chasing certificates.
Xflow holds final RBI PA-CB (Payment Aggregator - Cross Border) authorisation, as of February 2026.
Compared with a plain bank transfer, understanding your wire transfer fees on inbound money usually shows the receiving side is where the real cost sits, well beyond a one-time ₹500.
The other codes you will still need alongside the IEC
The IEC is one code among several, and mixing them up causes more delay than any fee.
For an overseas payment to reach you, the payer's bank routes on your bank's SWIFT code, while the IFSC code identifies the branch on the domestic leg once the money is in India.
On invoices, goods carry an an HSN code classification and services carry a SAC code instead, so use the right one for what you actually sell. None of these replace or overlap with the IEC; they simply travel with it.
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Frequently asked questions
You pay the ₹500 online during the application on the DGFT portal, through net banking, card or UPI. There is no offline route and no separate invoice; the code is issued once the payment and your PAN and bank details validate.
You cannot; the DGFT charges a one-time ₹500 for issuing the code. What is free is the mandatory annual update between April and June, and reactivation if the code lapsed for a missed update.
Often not. The DGFT generally does not require an IEC for pure services exports unless you claim a Foreign Trade Policy benefit. Confirm the current DGFT wording, but many freelancers exporting only services get paid without one.
No. The IEC does not expire and has no renewal fee. It only needs a free annual update between 1 April and 30 June. Skipping that update deactivates the code, which is a filing lapse, not an unpaid fee.
Changing details on the code costs ₹200 per Appendix 2K. That is separate from the ₹500 issue fee, and you only pay it when you actually amend particulars such as address, bank account or entity details.
Usually ₹1,500 to ₹4,500. That includes the ₹500 DGFT fee plus the consultant's service charge for filing. A DSC, if you buy one, adds roughly ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 more, though proprietors can often sign with Aadhaar OTP instead.
For exporting goods, yes; the AD code is registered separately with your bank and links to customs. It is distinct from the IEC and from any TDS the buyer deducts, so treat TDS on professional fees as a separate matter again.
