The Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued Trade Notice No. 23/2025-26 dated 06 February 2026, announcing implementation of an NPCI-based workflow for bank account validation in Importer Exporter Code (IEC) applications and modifications. Building on earlier API-based validation initiatives, DGFT has integrated its system with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to enable real-time verification of bank account details from February 2026 onwards. Under the revised process, applicants must declare all active bank accounts linked with their PAN and ensure accurate matching of PAN, name, and bank details as per bank records. Bank account information submitted is validated through NPCI and assigned a status of “Success”, “In Progress”, or “Failed”. Based on the application type and validation status, IEC applications or modifications may proceed normally, be placed under automatic review, approved upon successful validation, marked deficient, or rejected. The initiative aims to strengthen authenticity, digitisation, and trust in the IEC ecosystem.
Government of India
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Department of Commerce
Directorate General of Foreign Trade
Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi
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Trade Notice No. 23/2025-26-DGFT | Dated: February 06, 2026
To,
1. All Exporters/Members of Trade & Industry
2. All Banking and Financial institutions
3. All Export Promotion Councils/Commodity Boards
4. All DGFT Regional Authorities
Subject: Implementation of NPCI-based Workflow for Bank Account Validation in IEC Applications and Modifications – regarding.
Reference is made to the earlier DGFT Public Notice No. 32/2025-26 dated 20.11.2025, where this Directorate enabled for online, API-based validation of IEC-related details through integration with Government and authenticated databases.
2. To further facilitate the above and strengthen the IEC ecosystem; DGFT has implemented integration with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) effective from February 2026 for real-time validation of bank account details furnished at the time of IEC issuance as well as IEC modification ensuring authenticity of IEC-linked bank accounts and enabling a fully digital, automatic and trusted trade facilitation framework.
3. As per the revised workflow, applicants are required to:
i. Declare all active bank accounts linked with their PAN; and
ii. Ensure that PAN, name and bank account details are correctly matched as per bank records.
4. Processing of IEC Applications / Modifications based on NPCI Validation Status
i. Bank account details submitted by the applicant shall be transmitted to NPCI for validation, and the system shall receive validation status as “Success”, “In Progress” or “Failed”. Based on the application type and validation status received from NPCI, the following events will be executed:
| Application Type | NPCI Validation Status | System Action |
| Apply for IEC /Success Modify IEC | bank accounts) | (for all Application proceeds as per normal workflow |
| Apply for IEC / | In Progress (none of the validations Fail) |
Application submitted will be placed under Automatic Review;
Application is auto approved upon successful validation. Application is marked Rejected in case of failed validation. |
| Modify IEC | In Progress (none of the validations Fail) |
Application submitted will be placed under Automatic Review;
Application is auto approved upon receiving successful validation. Application is marked ‘Deficient’ in case of failed validation in first instance of any bank account. Exporter /Importer to modify the bank account with correct details and respond to deficiency. On further failed validation, application will be rejected. |
| Apply for IEC | Failed (for any bank account) | Application cannot be submitted until correct bank details are provided. |
| Modify IEC | Failed (for any bank account) | Application cannot be submitted until correct bank details are provided. |
ii. In cases where validation status is “In Progress”, the system shall periodically fetch updated status from NPCI.
5. Accordingly, Stakeholders are advised to verify correctness of bank details, PAN linkage and name matching with bank records prior to submission of IEC applications or modification requests. Any difficulties in submission/update may be reported through the DGFT Helpdesk.
This is issued with the approval of the competent authority.
(B Kruti)
Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade
E-mail: kruti.bhat@gov.in
(Issued from F.No. 01/02/58/AM-26/EG&TF)
