Best Ways to Receive Export Payments for Gems and Jewellery Exporters

Jewellery export payment happens in one of five ways: 1. cash in advance, 2. a letter of credit (LC), 3. documents against payment or acceptance (DP/DA), 4. open account after shipment, or 5. consignment and memo sales, where the buyer pays once the piece is sold. The payment typically reaches you as a bank wire into your authorised dealer (AD) bank in India.

In this trade, the payment term matters more than the bank fee. One parcel of polished diamonds or a gold jewellery order can be worth a great deal, pieces often go out on consignment, and the gold you used may sit on a loan with its own deadline. This is why the term you accept decides how much credit risk and price risk you carry between shipping and getting paid.

We compare the terms by cost and risk, then cover what this trade adds: consignment and memo sales, timing a buyer's payment against a gold loan, insurance against buyer non-payment, and the account to hold the money in. Last comes closing each shipment's Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS) entry within nine months, since overdue exports can restrict your next shipments.

Jewellery export payment can take five routes, which run from safest to riskiest for you:

• Cash in advance - The buyer wires all or part of the money before you dispatch. You carry almost no payment risk, and it suits made-to-order pieces and first orders.
• Letter of credit (LC) - The buyer's bank promises to pay once you present documents that match the credit. Most of the risk moves to a bank, and you pay bank fees for it.
• Documents against payment or acceptance (DP/DA) - Your bank hands the shipping documents to the buyer only against payment (DP) or a signed promise to pay on a later date (DA).
• Open account - You ship first and the buyer pays on the agreed date after shipment. It is common with long-standing buyers and leaves you exposed until the money lands.
• Consignment and memo - You send pieces for the buyer to show and sell, and payment follows the sale, or the pieces come back. It is one of the most exposed routes, because your money depends on the buyer selling the piece.

Whichever term you agree, the payment itself typically arrives as a bank wire from the buyer's bank to your AD bank in India, in a currency such as USD, AED, GBP or EUR. Our guide to export payment methods walks through each term step by step.

For a jewellery exporter, the safer the term, the more your bank charges for it: advance and open account carry mainly the inward remittance charge, while a confirmed LC adds advising and confirmation fees.

Charges shown are SBI's for customers without export credit from it, and other AD banks differ.

Which term to take depends on the buyer:

• New buyer - Ask for part-advance or a confirmed LC on the first parcels, since one unpaid parcel can wipe out the margin on several orders.
• Repeat buyer - Open account or DA on a short credit period works, and for memo lots agree the pay-or-return date in writing.
• Large retail or wholesale chain - Such buyers may ask for open account, so manage the risk with cover rather than refuse the order.
• Custom or made-to-order piece - Take a part-advance before you buy the stones and gold, since the piece has no other buyer.

The complete comparison sits in our guide to export payment terms, and our export bill collection guide covers the bank steps and charges for DP and DA.

Consignment, memo and exhibition sales share one feature: the pieces leave India before anyone has bought them, so you are paid only once they sell abroad.

• Consignment - You send stock to an agent or buyer abroad, and you are paid as pieces sell.
• Memo - You send pieces on approval for the buyer to inspect and choose from, and anything unsold comes back.
• Exhibition sale - You carry pieces to a show abroad and sell them there, then bring the money home.

For an ordinary shipment, the nine months for realising export proceeds run from the date you ship, so a parcel sitting unsold with an agent abroad uses up the window. For goods sent to a warehouse outside India, the nine months run from the date they are sold from that warehouse.

That is regulation 5(1)(b) of the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Ask your AD bank which rule covers your consignment before you ship.

Protect yourself in writing:

• Agree the pay-or-return date - State when sold pieces are paid for and when unsold pieces come back, in the consignment or memo agreement.
• List every piece and insure the parcel - Keep an itemised invoice, insure the parcel in transit and on memo, and ask for regular stock and sales statements from the buyer.
• Know that cover is limited - The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) does not cover consignment sales under its policy for gems and jewellery exporters, so an unsold or unpaid consignment stays your risk.
• Watch the gold deadline on exhibition sales - If you replenish your gold duty free after selling at an approved show abroad, buy the gold within 120 days of the show closing. Then send the bank realisation certificate to the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) within 180 days.

If you take gold on a metal loan or on booking, the loan deadlines run on their own clock and do not wait for your buyer. Duty-free gold drawn from a nominated agency comes with fixed timelines:

• Metal loan - Export the jewellery within 90 days of gold delivery, fix the price and pay with interest to close the loan within 180 days, and get the bank realisation certificate within the buyer's credit term, at most 270 days from export.
• Booking basis - Export within 120 days of booking or price fixing, and take delivery within 150 days of booking or 30 days of export, whichever is later.
• Notional rate certificate (NRC) basis - Export within 7 days of the certificate, then fix the price, and realise the buyer's payment, within the credit terms or 180 days, whichever is earlier.

Work backwards from the loan close. For instance, assuming the 180 days run from gold delivery, if you ship on day 60 after gold delivery, a buyer with a 90-day credit term pays on day 150, inside a 180-day loan. A buyer with a 150-day term pays on day 210, so you must cover the gold cost from other funds for a month.

Price risk sits in the same gap. On a metal loan your gold cost is fixed when you fix the price to close the loan. Your sale is priced in dollars or dirhams on the invoice date, so a move in the gold price or the exchange rate before you are paid changes your margin. Read about hedging your currency exposure before you accept a long credit period.

Your agreement with the nominated agency or bank sets the exact dates, so check them against your buyer's credit term before you accept it. A longer gap between shipping and payment can also be bridged with export finance.

ECGC has a policy built only for gems and jewellery exporters, the Multi-Buyer Exposure Policy for Gems, Jewellery and Diamond Exporters. It is open to exporters with insurable export turnover of Rs20 crore and above, and bad debts of no more than 10% of turnover over the last three financial years.

• What it covers - Buyer default, political risk and the risk of the bank that opens an LC, for 70% of the loss, or 60% for buyers in the UAE and Hong Kong.
• What you must do - Pay the premium in advance and a Rs10,000 processing fee, and route the proposal through GJEPC. Seek prior approval before stretching the total credit period beyond 180 days. File a claim within 360 days of the due date, or 540 days from the policy's expiry date, whichever is earlier.
• What it leaves out - Consignment sales, merchanting trade, deemed exports and buyers in your own group.

Terms change, so confirm the current cover, fees and turnover floor with ECGC or GJEPC before you apply. Two checks protect you whether or not you hold cover:

• Check who is paying - If a trading company in Hong Kong or Dubai pays for the buyer, your AD bank may permit it if satisfied the arrangement is genuine. Agree it with your bank before the money is sent.
• Keep the paper trail clean - An invoice, packing list and contract that all name the same buyer make the bank's check quick and any claim easier.

Three kinds of foreign currency account can hold export proceeds, and the Diamond Dollar Account is for the diamond trade only. Which one applies depends on what you trade and where your unit sits.

Your AD bank opens these accounts and confirms whether you qualify. Our EEFC account and foreign currency account guides cover how they work day to day.

From the shipping bill to a closed entry, these are the steps for a jewellery shipment, and for most shipments the clock runs from the day you ship.

1. Declare the export at dispatch - At an electronic data interchange (EDI) port, your export declaration form (EDF) is deemed submitted as part of the shipping bill. A unit in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) gives it to the Development Commissioner of the zone instead of Customs.
2. Your AD bank closes the EDPMS entry once the money lands - When the buyer's payment for a parcel reaches your account, the bank confirms it is genuine and closes or updates the matching EDPMS entry, so there is nothing for you to file.
3. Small shipments close on a declaration - Where the shipping bill is up to Rs10 lakh, or the equivalent in foreign currency, the entry can be closed on your own declaration, or on a quarterly bulk declaration. GJEPC has told RBI that some banks still leave such low-value bills pending, so ask your bank to apply this rule.
4. Collect your FIRA and raise your eBRC - Your bank gives you the foreign inward remittance advice (FIRA) for the receipt. You then raise the electronic bank realisation certificate (eBRC) yourself on the portal of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which draws on the remittance data your bank reports. Our bank realisation certificate guide explains the difference between the two.
5. Bring the money home within nine months - The deadline is nine months from shipment, or from the sale date for goods held in a warehouse abroad, and 12 months for exports invoiced or settled in rupees. If a memo or consignment sale runs late, your bank can extend the realisation period when you give it a genuine reason.

If proceeds stay unrealised for more than a year past the due date, or the extended date, the regulations allow your further exports only against full advance or an irrevocable LC.

We receive wire payments for goods exports, which covers two of the payment terms for jewellery exports: advance payments before shipment and open-account payments after it. Buyers can pay in currencies including USD, GBP and EUR, and the money reaches your Indian bank account as quickly as the next business day, depending on the payment method.

For each transaction we issue an eFIRA, the electronic foreign inward remittance advice. Your AD bank, not us, closes the EDPMS entry.

Use us alongside your bank:

• Letters of credit, collections and gold metal loans - These stay with your bank, because we do not offer them.
• Payments above Rs25 lakh - RBI caps every payment handled by a cross-border payment aggregator at Rs25 lakh, so a parcel paid above that amount goes straight to your AD bank.
• Eligibility first - Businesses that deal in precious metals or stones go through additional due-diligence checks before onboarding, so we confirm your eligibility before you go live.

Xflow Payments India Pvt. Ltd. holds final Payment Aggregator - Cross Border (PA-CB) authorisation from RBI, the fully approved stage, as of February 2026.