Import Export Code (IEC)

Import Export Code (IEC) registration, at a flat fee

An Import Export Code, or IEC, is the 10-digit registration that lets a business in India lawfully import goods in or export goods and services out. Adv. Bhawna Yadav and her team obtain your IEC from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) at a flat professional fee of ₹2,000 — we prepare and lodge the whole application, answer anything the department asks, and hand you the code your bank and customs will need. It usually takes two to four days, and we work in English or Hindi.

The fee is fixed and agreed in writing before we begin. There is no hourly billing, nothing added later, and no upselling.

What an Import Export Code actually is

The IEC is your business's key to cross-border trade. It is a single 10-digit code, issued by the DGFT under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and it is required before you can move commercial goods across India's borders in either direction. Without it, a shipment does not clear customs and a trade payment does not move cleanly through your bank.

Think of it as the one registration that identifies your business to everyone involved in a trade transaction — the customs authorities who clear your consignment, and the bank that sends money abroad for an import or receives money from a buyer overseas. It is issued once against your PAN and, for most applicants, the code itself is your PAN. It carries lifetime validity, so this is a registration you set up properly at the start and then simply keep active.

What the IEC is not is a licence to import or export any particular product. It is the foundational registration that opens the door to trade; specific goods that are restricted or need a separate permission are a different matter. For the vast majority of businesses trading in ordinary goods and services, the IEC is all the registration the trade itself requires.

Our flat fee and what it covers

Our flat professional fee to obtain your Import Export Code is ₹2,000. That single fee covers the whole job from start to finish — a short conversation to confirm you need the code and how you will use it, a clear checklist of what we need from you, your complete application prepared and lodged with the DGFT, any query on it answered on your behalf, and the granted code delivered to you. You agree the fee with us in writing before any work begins, so you know the cost of our work from the very start.

We keep our pricing deliberately plain. Unlike firms that quote a low number and then let a simple registration grow into a longer bill, we tell you one fee up front and we tell you honestly what your matter actually needs. Getting an IEC is, for most businesses, a clean and contained job — so you pay the flat fee for the work described and nothing more from us. We respect your time and our own effort, and we would far rather earn your trust than pad an invoice.

Who needs an Import Export Code

If your business touches cross-border trade at all, the IEC is very likely the first registration you need. A few of the situations we handle most often:

Businesses importing goods into India

Anyone bringing commercial goods into the country — raw materials, stock to resell, machinery, components — needs a valid IEC before those goods can be cleared. The code is checked at the point of import, and it is what your bank records when it sends payment to your overseas supplier. If you are setting up to import, this is the registration to have in hand before your first consignment is even shipped, so nothing is held at the border.

Exporters of goods

If you sell physical goods to buyers outside India, the IEC is what makes your export lawful and, just as importantly, what allows your export earnings to be received properly through your bank. It is also the foundation on which most export benefits and schemes under India's Foreign Trade Policy rest. You cannot claim what you have not registered for, so exporters get the IEC in place first and build from there.

Service exporters and freelancers earning from abroad

Consultants, IT and design professionals, agencies and other service providers who earn from clients outside India often need an IEC too — particularly where you want to receive foreign payments cleanly against your trade or to claim benefits available to service exporters. If a meaningful part of your income comes from overseas clients, it is worth confirming whether an IEC serves you, and we will tell you plainly whether it does.

E-commerce and cross-border online sellers

If you sell to customers abroad through your own store or an international selling platform, or you dropship and import stock, you are trading across borders and the IEC applies. Getting it early keeps your shipments and your incoming payments from being held up at exactly the moment your orders start to flow.

Why your bank and customs ask for it

Two parties will consistently ask you for your IEC, and it helps to know why, because it explains why the code is worth having ready rather than obtained in a rush.

Customs will not clear an import or export consignment that is not linked to a valid IEC. The code identifies whose trade the shipment belongs to, and it is a required part of the paperwork that moves goods across the border. No IEC, no clearance — which is why an importer without one can find goods stuck and demurrage building up.

Your bank is required to record your IEC against trade payments. When money goes out to pay an overseas supplier, or comes in from a foreign buyer, the bank ties that payment to your registered code. This is how cross-border trade payments are tracked in the official record, and it is why a bank will pause a trade remittance until it has your IEC on file.

Having the code in place before you need it means neither of these becomes an emergency.

Keeping your IEC active

The IEC is granted once and does not expire, but there is a single yearly step that keeps it live. Each year you confirm your IEC details — even when nothing has changed — so that the code stays active on the record. If that yearly confirmation is missed, the IEC can be de-activated, which then has to be put right before you can trade again.

We do not leave you to discover this the hard way. When we hand you your code, we explain the yearly confirmation plainly, so you know exactly what keeps the registration alive. And if you would rather not track it yourself, we are glad to attend to the confirmation for you each year, so your IEC is never quietly switched off just when a shipment is due.

What you get with Adv. Bhawna Yadav and her team

• A named advocate stands behind your registration. Your IEC application is prepared and lodged by Adv. Bhawna Yadav and her team, not left to an anonymous desk — so someone accountable is looking after the registration your trade depends on.
• The right advice before we file. We first confirm that an IEC is what your situation actually needs and how it fits your trade, so you are not registering for something that does not serve you.
• The whole application handled. We prepare and lodge the complete application and answer any query raised on it on your behalf, so the back-and-forth is ours to manage, not yours.
• The finished code delivered. What you receive is your granted 10-digit Import Export Code, ready to give your bank and customs, with a plain note on how to keep it active.
• English or Hindi, whichever you need. We explain everything clearly in the language you are most comfortable in, from what the code does to how you use it afterwards.

How working with us goes

Working with us is simple, and you are never left wondering what happens next.

You tell us about your trade. Whether you plan to import, export, or both, and the few details we ask for. That is nearly all we need to begin.

We confirm the IEC fits and send you a checklist. We check that an IEC is the right registration for you and give you one clear list of what to send, so nothing is guesswork.

We prepare and lodge your application. We put the complete application together and submit it to the DGFT, and if any query comes back on it, we answer that for you.

We deliver your code. Once the IEC is granted, we hand it to you along with a plain explanation of how to use it and how to keep it active.

You never have to work your way through any process yourself. We describe the outcome to you in plain language, and what we hand you at the end is the finished code — not a half-done registration you are left to chase.

Available across India, and for NRIs and from abroad

An IEC is a single national registration, not a state-by-state one, so where you are based in India makes no difference to obtaining it. We get the Import Export Code for clients in every state at the same flat ₹2,000, coordinating everything from here.

We also work regularly with NRIs and Indians living abroad who are setting up trade with India — importing to or exporting from a business they run or are building here. Registering from another country has its own practical needs, chiefly around how documents are handled and, where a step calls for someone acting for you on the ground, a properly drafted power of attorney. We advise you on all of it, manage the registration from here, and keep it moving while you stay where you are. It is handled by email and message, in English or Hindi, on a timeline that works across time zones.

Why choose Adv. Bhawna Yadav and her team

• A named advocate, not an anonymous desk. Adv. Bhawna Yadav (B.A. LL.B., LL.M., UGC-NET JRF), enrolled with the Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh, and her team handle your IEC registration personally.
• One flat fee of ₹2,000, agreed in writing before we start. No hourly billing, and nothing added afterwards.
• No upselling, ever. We quote one fee and tell you honestly what your matter needs. An IEC is usually a clean, contained registration, and we treat it as one rather than manufacturing steps to bill for.
• English or Hindi, throughout, so you always understand what you are registering for and how to use it.

Not sure whether an IEC is what your situation needs, or whether you also need other registrations to trade the way you plan to? Book a consultation and we will tell you honestly which route fits — and if your trade needs more than the code alone, we will point you to exactly the right service.

The legal basis

The requirement for an Import Export Code comes from the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, the law that governs India's import and export trade. Under Section 7 of that Act, no person may import or export goods except under an Import Export Code number granted by the Director General of Foreign Trade or an officer authorised for the purpose. The code is issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which sits under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the detailed rules for obtaining and maintaining it are set out in India's Foreign Trade Policy and the procedures under it.

It is this framework that makes the IEC the gateway to lawful cross-border trade — the registration that customs checks at the border and that your bank records against your trade payments. We obtain it for you within that framework and deliver you the code, so you can import or export with the one registration your trade genuinely requires, at a flat ₹2,000.