RBI eases services export reporting compliance for individual exporters, issues notification

RBI has now relaxed the Export Declaration Form (EDF) compliance norms for resident individuals exporting services. | Photo Credit: FRANCIS MASCARENHAS

Amid increased uncertainty and procedural hassles for individuals on the new services exports reporting framework, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now relaxed the Export Declaration Form (EDF) compliance norms for resident individuals exporting services.

A RBI notification dated November 2 noted that resident individuals exporting services abroad will be deemed to have submitted the EDF once they provide “the required payment-related information” to their authorised dealer (AD) bank.

Essentially, any individuals earning income from overseas clients - they could be in the nature of freelancers, independent consultants etc- will not have to submit an EDF separately if they provide the required payment-related information to their bank.

For exporters other than resident individuals, the November 2 amendment says they can avail such simplified reporting for inward remittances up to ₹10 lakh per transaction.

This amendment is made effective retrospectively from October 1, 2026.

Under the earlier FEMA reporting framework notified in September, service exporters were required to furnish an EDF within 30 days from the end of the month in which an invoice was raised. The declaration helped authorised dealer banks to record export transactions in the RBI’s Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS) and track receipt of export proceeds.

Businessline reported earlier about how individual service exporters continued to face uncertainty over the compliance with RBI’s new FEMA regulations even 23 days after it kicked off.

In the absence of official, written clarifications by RBI on the applicability of the new EDF regime, different AD banks had taken different approaches and majority were also yet to put out their standard operating procedures (SOPs) as mandated by the regulator.

Service providers, chartered accountants and other experts told businessline thenthat individual exporters have been seeking support on whether they should be filing the EDF, which is quite complex requiring various information.

Published on November 3, 2026