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e-BRC recognized for trade facilitation

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Soma Tah
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: 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 Vietnam.

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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.

The union minister of commerce and industry, Anand Sharma said, "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."

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

e-BRC project enables banks to upload foreign exchange realisation information relating to merchandise goods exports on to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade(DGFT) server under a secured protocol. This initiative has reduced the cost of transaction for exporters by eliminating their interface with bank. 89 banks operating in India, including foreign banks and cooperative banks have uploaded more than 64 lakh e-BRCs on to the DGFT server so far.

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.