EDF Form for Export of Services – RBI's Export Declaration Form

The Export Declaration Form is the form on which an exporter declares the full value of an export to the 'specified authority'. RBI gives it at the Annex to the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026 (Notification No. FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB of 13 January 2026), which came into force on 1 October 2026. It is one form for goods and services. For services, the specified authority is the Authorised Dealer, meaning your bank, or for software the bank or STPI; for a unit in an SEZ it is the zone's Development Commissioner.

Export Declaration Form. Under RBI's Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026 it is the one form on which exports of goods, services and software are declared, and for software it takes the place of the old SOFTEX form.

Regulation 3(2) says an exporter of services 'shall furnish' a declaration in EDF to the specified authority. When people asked RBI to exempt service exports, it replied 'Not accepted. Section 7 of FEMA, 1999, makes declaration of exports mandatory', and made the process and timeframe more flexible instead. For individuals, see the next answer: on 7 October 2026, RBI said those providing services abroad are not required to report.

What RBI said on 7 October 2026 points to no. At the post-policy press conference, Governor Sanjay Malhotra said individuals providing services abroad, such as tutoring or small software work, and getting paid for it, are not required to report, and Deputy Governor Rohit Jain said individuals are not included in the reporting requirements for contracts of a personal nature (as reported by BusinessToday and Business Standard). RBI said it will issue FAQs, and the Regulations' text has not changed. Neither official named YouTube or AdSense, so until the FAQs are out, ask your bank before filing anything. A firm or company paid by foreign clients or by a platform is an exporter of services, and the rest of this page applies to it.

Within 30 days from the end of the month in which the invoice was raised (Regulation 3(2)). Invoices raised in October 2026 are due by 30 November 2026, November's by 30 December 2026 and December's by 30 January 2027. For services other than software, the Regulation also lets you submit the EDF 'on or before the date of receipt of payment', and the bank can extend the period if you ask it, giving reasons for the delay.

Yes. Under Regulation 3(2)(a), an exporter who has exported services to one or more recipients in a month 'may submit a single EDF for all such exports'. That is what Part 2B of the form is for: one row per invoice. Add each of the month's invoices here and they go into that table in order.

Part 1 (general information), Part 2B (the services table) and Part 4 (the declaration). Part 2A is for goods, Part 3 is for exports through the post or a courier, and Part 5 is for the bank. This format keeps all five parts as they are in RBI's Annex and leaves the goods boxes empty.

The declaration is written for every kind of exporter at once: 'I/We', 'buyer/third party', 'foreign exchange/Indian Rupees', 'goods/services'. You strike out the words that do not apply to you. Answer the questions in the Declaration section and the words are struck out for you, in the PDF and in the Word file.

Regulation 5(1)(a) gives nine months from the date of invoice for services, or twelve months where the export is invoiced or settled in Indian rupees. The nine months came in by an amendment of 22 September 2026; it was fifteen months before. If a client pays late, the bank may extend the period on your request, if it is satisfied with the reasons. The declaration asks you for the date, and the summary under the form works it out from your earliest invoice.

AD stands for Authorised Dealer: the bank authorised to deal in foreign exchange, where your foreign payments arrive. The AD code is that bank branch's code, and the branch can give it to you. The form asks for the bank's name, address and AD code.

Under Regulation 4(2), for an invoice of up to ₹10 lakh (or its equivalent in foreign currency) the bank may close its EDPMS entry on your declaration that the payment has been realised, in full or otherwise, and you may give that declaration quarterly for many invoices at once. It is a separate declaration from the EDF; ask your bank how it wants it.

SOFTEX was the separate form for software exports under the 2015 Regulations. The 2026 Regulations have one declaration form, the EDF, and name the bank or STPI as the specified authority for software, so software exports are declared on the EDF too.

No. The EDF is a declaration under the foreign exchange law, FEMA. Income tax and GST have their own rules and returns, and filing an EDF does not change them.

RBI sets the rule and the form; each bank decides how it takes it (at the branch, by email or through net banking) and what goes with it. In its statement on feedback, RBI said banks 'can handle transactions as per their internal policy', and Regulation 19 requires each bank to publish the main features of that policy, with its documents, timelines and charges, on its website. Look there, or ask your branch. Once the bank has your EDF, Regulation 18 gives it five working days to enter it in EDPMS, the Export Data Processing and Monitoring System.

At the top of this page: the blank EDF as a PDF to print and fill by hand, and as a Word file to type into. It is the form RBI gives at the Annex to the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, with every box and every word in place. RBI's own copy of the Annex is at https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/content/pdfs/NRAR23R16012026_AN.pdf if you want to compare.

The EDF itself is one form: regulation 2(1)(c) defines it as 'the form given at Annex', and this page reproduces that form. What differs from bank to bank is how they take it. RBI left the handling to each bank's internal policy, and regulation 19 requires every bank to publish the main features of that policy, with its documents, timelines and charges, on its website. Some banks may also want a covering letter or a declaration of their own with the form, so check your bank's website or ask your branch.

Yes. Press Word (.docx) above the preview. You get the same form as the PDF, every box and word in place, ready to edit. It is a standard .docx file, the format used by Microsoft Word, Google Docs, WPS Office and LibreOffice. A blank EDF in Word, with nothing filled in or struck out, is linked at the top of this page.

Yes. Press 'Blank format' for an empty EDF to print and fill with a pen, with room in the boxes and eight empty rows in the services table, or use the blank PDF and Word files linked at the top of this page.

RBI gives the form in English, so it prints in English, as banks expect it. The questions on this page are also in Hindi: switch the site language to हिंदी at the top.