One EDF for every client invoiced that month
You no longer need a separate declaration for every overseas client. Group the month’s invoices on one form, and skip any month in which you raised no export invoice.
EDF filing deadline for service exports
English
The filing clock starts from the invoice month. Realisation is a second, longer clock. Both dates changed with the rules that took effect on 1 October 2026.
When the rules start
The Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, took effect on 1 October 2026. Service exports, including software, are declared on the Export Declaration Form from that date.
The useful text is the January notification as amended up to 22 September 2026. The amendment is the one that sets the realisation period now in force.
The 30-day filing rule
File within 30 days from the end of the month in which the invoice was raised. Invoices raised in October 2026 are due by 30 November 2026. A month with no export invoice does not need a blank form.
One form can cover every overseas recipient invoiced in that month. You do not file a separate EDF for each client unless you want to.
For services other than software, you may submit the form on or before the day the payment arrives, instead of waiting for the 30-day date. That later option does not apply to software. Ask the bank which description fits creator or advertising work before you rely on the payment date.
Nine months, or twelve for rupees
Export value in foreign currency is to be realised and brought into India within nine months from the invoice date. If the invoice is raised in rupees, or the export is settled in rupees, the period is twelve months.
The January text said fifteen months, and eighteen months for rupee invoices. The 22 September 2026 amendment replaced those with nine and twelve months before the rules began, so the longer periods never came into force.
The bank can extend filing, and it can extend realisation, when you ask and give a reason it finds reasonable. If proceeds stay unrealised for more than one year after the due date, or after an extension, further exports are allowed only against full advance payment or an irrevocable letter of credit.
Who receives the form
For services other than software, give the form to the authorised dealer bank in the domestic tariff area that handles the receipt. For software, that bank or Software Technology Parks of India can receive it. A unit in a special economic zone gives it to the Development Commissioner.
The bank records a service EDF in EDPMS within five working days. You leave the certification block blank for that office to complete.
Related guides
What to enter in Part 2B of the EDF
Goods use Part 2A. Services use Part 2B. Each overseas recipient you invoiced that month gets a line, and the header of the form still identifies you and your bank.
How to give an EDF to State Bank of India
State Bank of India had not published a separate export declaration form for services when this website was built. The form to prepare is the annex to the 2026 regulations, addressed to SBI.