The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has said it will take forward the IT industry’s concerns over the Reserve Bank of India’s draft export-import regulations, which many software exporters fear could add fresh layers of compliance.
“The government's focus is on ease of doing business. We will take industry’s concerns to the RBI," a senior government official said.
On August 1, MeitY met industry body Nasscom and several exporters regarding RBI's draft Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2025.
The draft proposes that software exports be reported through a new Export Declaration Form (EDF) instead of the existing SOFTEX form administered by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) The industry says this could complicate things.
"The RBI has to decide on whether it should be done by STPI or by the banks as the RBI wants,” the official cited above, added.
The industry favours the existing SOFTEX framework as it requires no shipping of physical goods, recurring billing cycles. The new EDF would, industry argues, would duplicate paperwork across systems already in use, including GST, STPI and so on.
Nasscom, in its submission to the IT ministry suggested that compliance be folded into the GST portal since exporters already use it to file returns.
It argued that with a few tweaks, GST could serve as a single window for export reporting, avoiding the need for multiple filings.
The body also recommended extending the 21-day timeline for submitting documents to 30 days from the end of the invoice month, removing the Rs 1 lakh cap on consolidated invoices, which exporters called unrealistic and so on.
The RBI’s draft rules, which are meant to replace the 2015 framework, are scheduled to take effect nine months after notification.
India's information technology exports increased from $199.5 billion to $224.4 billion in FY 2-24-2025. This reflect an increase of 12.48 per cent in fiscal 2024-25 from 2.83 pr cent growth in the previous fiscal.
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