In keeping with the Digital India vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister, and  taking yet another small but crucial step towards paperless, online functioning in 24x7 environment, Directorate General of Foreign Trade(DGFT) today launched the facility of online payment of application fees through Credit/Debit cards and electronic fund transfer from 53 Banks (List annexed). The facility of online payment was launched by Commerce Secretary Ms. Rita A.Teaotia.

As a measure of Trade Facilitation and Ease of Doing Business, DGFT has already operationalised the facility of Online filing of various applications by the exporters/importers under the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20). Early this year, DGFT also operationalised the facility of online submission of applications for issue of online Importer Exporter Code in digital format or e-IEC for entrepreneurs/exporters/importers. Now with the online payment facility being available from 53 banks as well as Credit and Debit cards, it would be possible to not only apply online for benefits under various schemes under Foreign Trade Policy but also make payment of the required application fee online, thus totally obviating the need to visit the offices of DGFT or banks for submission of applications. With the launch of this new facility applicants can now pay fees online to DGFT through their Credit /Debit Cards or through net banking in a 24x7 environment, from the comfort of their homes/offices or IT kiosks. This facility would also make the field offices of DGFT paperless to a large extent and enable them to function in 24*7 environment, while saving extra expenditure on storage space. It would also ensure transfer of the fee amount into government account on T+1 working day, avoiding undue delay in deposit of bank drafts etc.

DGFT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Central Bank of India, that will provide payment gateway services to the online portal of DGFT to enable applicants/ exporters/ importers to pay their application fees through Credit/Debit Cards or through net banking. The Central Bank of India will thus:

(i)  Provide facility for collection of fee through online portal of DGFT from banks through internet banking, debit cards and credit cards;

(ii)  Provide e-challans, banks scrolls, transaction IDs for all successful transactions

(iii) Refund amount to the applicant within 3 days, in case of failed transactions;

(iv) Provide all relevant details for seamless integration with the PAO and subsequent reconciliation with banks and RBI; and

(v)  Transfer the funds as per remittance norms of T+1 working day.          

            The charges applicable for using internet banking, debit /credit cards will be as follows:

Transaction Processing Charges

Visa / Master Card Credit card transaction: 1.45% of payment amount per transaction. Visa / Master Card/Rupay Debit Card transactions:    For transaction amount upto ₹ 2000/- -: 0.75% of payment amount per transaction.    For transaction amount above ₹ 2000/- -: 1.00% of payment amount per transaction. Net Banking Transactions: For transaction amount upto ₹ 10,000/- -: Nil   For transaction amount above ₹ 10,000/- -:Rs. 14/- per transaction / across all banks   Service tax would be extra

 

Annexure

Sl No.	Existing list of banks providing Net banking facility	Revised list of banks providing Net banking facility
1.	Axis Bank	Allahabad Bank
2.	Bank of India	Andhra Bank
3.	Central Bank of India	Axis Bank
4.	HDFC Bank	Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait
5.	Oriental Bank of Commerce	Bank of Baroda
6.	Punjab National Bank	Bank of India
7.	ICICI Bank	Bank of Maharashtra
8.	IDBI	Canara Bank
9.	State Bank of India	Catholic Syrian Bank
10.	Union Bank of India	Central Bank of India
11.		City Union Bank
12.		Corporation Bank
13.		Cosmos Bank
14.		Dena Bank
15.		Deutsche Bank
16.		Development Credit Bank
17.		Dhanlakshmi Bank
18.		Federal Bank
19.		HDFC Bank
20.		ICICI Bank
21.		IDBI Bank
22.		Indian Bank
23.		Indian Overseas Bank
24.		IndusInd Bank
25.		ING Vysya Bank
26.		Jammu and Kashmir Bank
27.		Karnataka Bank Ltd
28.		Karur Vysya Bank
29.		Kotak Bank
30.		Laxmi Vilas Bank
31.		Oriental Bank of Commerce
32.		Punjab and Maharashtra Co-op Bank
33.		Punjab & Sind Bank
34.		Punjab National Bank
35.		Ratnakar Bank Ltd
36.		The Saraswat Co Operative Bank Ltd
37.		Shamrao Vitthal Co-operative Bank
38.		South Indian Bank
39.		Standard Chartered Bank
40.		State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur
41.		State Bank of Hyderabad
42.		State Bank of India
43.		State Bank of Mysore
44.		State Bank of Patiala
45.		State Bank of Travancore
46.		Syndicate Bank
47.		Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd
48.		TNSC Bank
49.		UCO Bank
50.		Union Bank of India
51.		United Bank of India
52.		Vijaya Bank
53.		Yes Bank Ltd

Online payment facility enables applicants to pay DGFT application fees electronically, with refunds and next day fund transfer. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade launched an online payment facility for application fees via credit/debit cards and net banking, supported by an MOU with Central Bank of India to provide the payment gateway, e-challans, transaction IDs, reconciliation support, refunds for failed transactions within three days, and transfer of funds to government accounts on a T+1 working day basis. The release also sets out transaction processing charges for card and net-banking payments, with service tax extra, and lists the participating banks.