The Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s electronic Bank Realization Certificate (e-BRC) project has won the 2013 eASIA Award under Trade Facilitation category as announced by Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (AFACT) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on November 29, 2013.

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Anand Sharma expressed his happiness and congratulated officers and staff on winning 2013 eASIA Award. This award is administered by AFACT. Shri Sharma said that it has been our consistent endeavour to increase transparency in governance structures, reducing the human interface and improving the ease of doing business in India. This project is a significant step in this direction and will contribute considerably in reducing the transaction cost of our exporters.

e-BRC project launched on June 5, 2012 created an integrated platform for receipt, processing and subsequent use of all Bank Realization related information by exporters, banks, central and state government departments. It was made mandatory with effect from August 17, 2012.

Bank Realization Certificate is required for discharge of export obligation and to claim incentives under Foreign Trade Policy. Earlier this certificate was issued by banks manually. BRC is also used by state government departments for refund of VAT.

e-BRC project enables banks to upload Foreign Exchange realisation information relating to merchandise goods exports on to the DGFT server under a secured protocol. So far 89 banks operating in India, including foreign banks and cooperative banks have uploaded more than 64 lakh e-BRCs on to the DGFT server. This initiative has reduced the cost of transaction for exporters by eliminating their interface with bank (for issuance of BRC purposes) and enhanced the productivity of banks and DGFT. At the state level, Commercial Tax Departments of Maharashtra, Delhi, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have signed MoU with DGFT for receiving e-BRC data for VAT refund purposes. Many other states are in the process of signing MOUs. e-BRC project is a success story involving multiple stake holders, each with a different technology platform. This project is a live example of power of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) to improve service delivery.

Trade facilitation: e-BRC electronic certification streamlines export compliance and reduces transaction costs nationwide for exporters. The e-BRC project creates a mandatory electronic platform for banks to upload foreign exchange realisation data for merchandise exports to the DGFT server, replacing manual bank-issued BRCs and enabling exporters to discharge export obligations and claim Foreign Trade Policy incentives. The system secures data transmission, reduces transaction costs and processing burden for exporters, banks and DGFT, and permits state commercial tax departments to receive e-BRC data for VAT refund purposes under MoUs.