What Is an LEI Code? Format, Fees and How to Get One in India

An LEI code, also called an LEI number and written in full as a Legal Entity Identifier, is a unique 20-character alphanumeric code that identifies one company or other legal entity in financial and cross-border transactions. Most registered businesses can hold one, from a private limited company to an LLP, trust or society.

The LEI code is issued under an international standard and published in a single free database, so a bank, lender or counterparty anywhere can look you up and confirm who you are. In India you need one only in the situations that RBI, SEBI and IRDAI set out.

For most routine export receipts you won't need an LEI, because no RBI rule requires one for ordinary inward remittances. Whether your business needs one depends on the size of a single payment, your total borrowing or the market you deal in. If a bank does ask, you register a code with an issuer and renew it before the renewal date on your record.

LEI stands for Legal Entity Identifier, and each legal entity identifier belongs to one organisation and no other, the way a passport number belongs to one person. It links to verified reference data about that entity, including who owns it, so the system shows who is who and who owns whom. RBI adopted it to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data.

GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, runs the worldwide system and publishes every record in a free public database. In India the LEI code is issued by LEIL (Legal Entity Identifier India Ltd), which RBI recognises as an issuer and which is a GLEIF-accredited Local Operating Unit (LOU). LEIL is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCIL, the Clearing Corporation of India.

An LEI is easy to confuse with the identifiers you already hold, so it helps to see what each one proves:

• Import Export Code (IEC) - a registration with India's DGFT for businesses that trade across the border, which you can confirm through IEC code verification; it does not identify you in a large financial transaction.
• PAN and GST - PAN identifies you to the income-tax system and GST registers you for goods and services tax, and neither one names you as a party to a cross-border payment.
• SWIFT code - a SWIFT code routes a payment to a particular bank, while an LEI names the company that is party to the transaction.
• FIRC and eFIRA - the proof your bank issues for an inward payment; it records the remittance but does not identify your company the way an LEI does.

Every code follows ISO 17442, the international standard for the format, and GLEIF describes it as a unique 20-character alphanumeric code. For an LEI number example, GLEIF's own sample identifier, 506700GE1G29325QX363, shows the shape: letters and digits only, no spaces, and the same length for every entity in the world.

The 20 characters fall into three working parts. The first four identify the Local Operating Unit that issued the code. The middle characters are assigned by that unit to the entity and carry no meaning you can read into them. The last two are check digits, calculated under ISO 7064 MOD 97-10 so software can catch a mistyped code.

No single rule makes an LEI mandatory for every business; each RBI rule is triggered by the size of a payment or a loan. Several separate rules get blurred into one, and each has its own trigger, its own actor and its own date. This is the position as of 11 Nov 2026.

If your company has bank or NBFC credit, check the borrowing row first. The Rs 5 crore test adds up all your fund-based and non-fund-based credit, at the sanctioned limit or outstanding balance, whichever is higher. Without an LEI, a borrower cannot get new credit or renew existing credit, per the RBI circular of 21 Apr 2022.

Routine receipts are still classified with an RBI purpose code for inward remittance, and your bank issues a FIRC or an eFIRA as proof. If you are unsure which document you hold, the FIRC vs FIRA guide explains it, and none of this paperwork depends on an LEI.

In this example, an Indian exporter receives seven cross-border payments in seven currencies, from the UK, the eurozone, the US, Australia, Canada, Singapore and the Gulf. Each is tested on its own against the Rs 50 crore line, using RBI reference rates for 9 Nov 2026 and derived, indicative rates where RBI publishes none.

None of the seven comes close

Crossing the line in one payment would take a single transaction of about USD 5.33 million, or its equivalent in another currency, such as GBP 3.98 million or EUR 4.77 million.

Even a one-off USD 2 million settlement, about Rs 18.77 crore, stays well under.

The seven payments add up to roughly Rs 1.45 crore, but that total does not matter, because the rule tests each transaction on its own. Only when one payment reaches Rs 50 crore does the AD Category-I bank step in to collect an LEI under the cross-border rule.

Each inward payment also comes with a FIRA as proof of the remittance.

You apply directly on LEIL's portal, or through a registration agent that files on your behalf. On LEIL the route typically runs as follows:

1. Choose a plan for one to five years (LEIL's prices are listed below).
2. Enter the entity's legal form, its registration authority and registration ID, then use the fetch option to pull the registered details.
3. Confirm the legal name, PAN and date of incorporation.
4. Upload the documents the portal lists for that legal form (the common ones by entity type are listed below).
5. Pay the fee online.
6. LEIL checks the application.
7. Once approved, the LEI is issued and published on GLEIF's database, where anyone can find it.

How to check an existing LEI number on GLEIF

GLEIF runs a free public LEI code search. Type a company name or an LEI code into LEI Search and you can read back its registration status, its next renewal date and the Local Operating Unit that manages it. That tells you whether a counterparty's code is current before you rely on it.

To download your LEI certificate, go to the issuer you registered with; the LEI code and its status stay public on GLEIF. LEIL also lets you transfer a code to it, change your entity details or track an application you have already filed.

How to renew an LEI before it lapses

Every LEI record carries a next renewal date, shown on GLEIF, so your LEI stays valid only until that date and renewal is a fixed deadline. You renew through the issuer that manages your code, confirm that the entity's details are still correct, and pay for the next term. LEIL sells plans of one to five years.

Miss the date and your GLEIF record shows LAPSED. That means the renewal is overdue, not that your company has closed, and you can renew it back to ISSUED. Treat the date as a deadline anyway, because the RBI market and borrowing rules expect a current LEI, and once you hold one, your bank reports it on your cross-border payments.

LEIL's application does not ask for one fixed set of papers. You first enter the entity's basic details, its legal form, the authority it is registered with, that registration number, its legal name, PAN and date of incorporation, and the portal then generates the document list for that legal form.

The papers commonly accepted vary by entity type. The list below is a general guide, not LEIL's own published set, so check the exact requirement on the issuer's site before you upload.

A board resolution is commonly required where an authorised person delegates the application to someone else.

LEIL charges the same price whether you are applying for the first time or renewing, and the fee per year falls the longer the term you book. These are LEIL's own figures as of 11 Nov 2026, and each one carries 18% GST on top.

Other GLEIF-accredited issuers and registration agents set their own prices, so an agent may quote more or less than LEIL for the same code. Compare the total cost, including GST and the renewals you will pay later, before you choose a route.

Xflow helps Indian businesses and freelancers receive international payments for their exports in 25+ currencies, with the money settled to their Indian bank account and an eFIRA issued automatically for each withdrawal. Under RBI's cross-border rule, an LEI comes into play only when a single payment reaches Rs 50 crore, so most export receipts never need one. See how Xflow receiving accounts work.

An LEI code is a must only when a rule applies to you: a single cross-border or RTGS/NEFT payment of Rs 50 crore or more, Rs 5 crore or more of aggregate bank borrowing, forex deals of USD 1 million or more, or dealings that SEBI or IRDAI cover. If one does, apply through LEIL, pick a one- to five-year plan, and renew before the date on your GLEIF record. Check any code, yours or a counterparty's, for free on GLEIF before you rely on it.