What is an AD code?
An AD code is a code allotted by a bank that is an authorised dealer in foreign exchange. It identifies the bank branch handling your export and import payments.
It is not a licence and not a registration you apply for to a department. The bank issues it to you, usually as a letter on its letterhead addressed to the Commissioner of Customs, and the registration step is recording that bank account against your IEC on the customs system.
Two things follow from that. First, the AD code belongs to a bank account, so a change of bank or of account means a new registration. Second, nobody at DGFT can help you with it, because it is a customs and banking item, not a trade policy one.
Why customs needs it
Customs matches three things on an export: the exporter, the goods and the money. The AD code registration is how the money side is pinned down.
Once the bank account is registered against your IEC at a customs location, the system can accept a shipping bill filed under that IEC at that location and can route export benefits to a known account. That is why a customs broker will not be able to file your shipping bill until the registration is in place, and why an IGST refund or duty drawback can sit unpaid while the account is unregistered.
Who needs AD code registration, and when
You need it if you export goods from India. Service exporters who never file a shipping bill do not, although they have their own set of registrations.
Do it at these three moments:
- Before your first export, as soon as the IEC is issued and the export current account is open.
- Before you ship from a new port, because the registration is recorded against a customs location and a new location is not automatic.
- When your bank or account changes, including a change of branch that changes the AD code, a switch of bank, or a new account opened for export proceeds.
The order matters. IEC first, then the bank account and the AD code letter, then ICEGATE registration, then the shipping bill.
Documents required
The bank asks for one set, and ICEGATE asks for another. This is the combined list we work from.
| Document | Used for |
|---|---|
| Import Export Code certificate | Both the bank and ICEGATE |
| PAN of the entity | Bank file |
| GST registration certificate | Bank file, and usually uploaded on ICEGATE |
| Current account details of the export account, with a cancelled cheque | Bank file and ICEGATE entry |
| Request letter to the bank for an AD code letter | Bank file |
| Board resolution or partnership authorisation for the signatory | Companies, LLPs and firms |
| Identity proof and photograph of the authorised signatory | Bank file |
| AD code letter issued by the bank | Uploaded as the proof document on ICEGATE |
| Class 3 digital signature certificate registered on ICEGATE | Signing the ICEGATE submission |
If you do not yet hold a digital signature certificate in the entity's name, we arrange one: see digital signature.
What the AD code letter from the bank should say
Banks use their own formats, but a letter that customs accepts without a query generally carries the entity's name exactly as on the IEC, the IEC number, the AD code, the bank and branch name with address, the account number and IFSC, and the bank's stamp and signature. Where the letter is issued for a specific port, it names that port.
Check the entity name letter by letter against the IEC before you accept the letter from the bank. A private limited company whose name appears without "Private Limited" on the bank letter is the most common reason the upload is rejected.
How AD code registration works on ICEGATE
The registration is done in your own ICEGATE account, not by your bank and not by a department.
- Register the entity on ICEGATE against the IEC, if you have not already, and register the Class 3 digital signature certificate for the authorised signatory.
- Open the bank account facility under Bank Account Management.
- Choose Foreign Remittance Account (Authorised Dealer Code), which is the AD code account type, rather than the export promotion or incentive account type.
- Review what is already recorded against your IEC, because part of what people pay consultants for is registering something that is already there.
- Add the account: bank name, branch, AD code, account number, the customs location you are registering for, the document type, and the proof document, which is the bank's AD code letter.
- Verify and submit, then track the status shown for that customs location until it reads as approved.
We work from the fields ICEGATE is actually showing in your logged-in account rather than from an old checklist, because the portal's bank account screens have changed more than once.
The two bank accounts customs holds for an exporter
This is where most confusion on this subject comes from. Customs holds two different bank account registrations for an exporter, and they are not the same thing.
| Registration | What it is for | Where it sits on ICEGATE |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign Remittance Account (Authorised Dealer Code) | The AD code account: your export and import remittance account, needed for the shipping bill | Bank Account Management, Foreign Remittance Account |
| Export promotion or incentive bank account | The account into which duty drawback and IGST refunds are credited, validated through PFMS | Bank Account Management, incentive or export promotion account |
The second one got easier in October 2025. Under CBIC Circular No. 24/2025-Customs dated 7 October 2025, where the same incentive bank account and IFSC combination has already been approved for an IEC at any one customs location, a request to register the same combination at another location is auto-approved instead of waiting for the port officer, and goes straight for PFMS validation.
That circular is about the incentive account. It does not say the same thing about the AD code account, so do not assume the AD code is now national because your refund account was approved everywhere.
Does an AD code have to be registered at every port?
Treat it as per port unless ICEGATE shows otherwise for your IEC.
The registration is submitted against a customs location, and the status is shown against that location. Some advisers say a single registration now propagates to all ports; the CBIC circular that does provide cross-location auto-approval is limited to the incentive bank account and IFSC, not the AD code account. The safe practice, and the one we follow, is to check the status shown for the specific customs location you are shipping from, and to register there if it is not already approved.
Do this a few days before the shipment, not on the day the container is at the port. That is the single most expensive mistake on this page.
AD code registration fees
Professional fee: fee on quote after a free review. The work varies: a single port for an exporter who already has ICEGATE and a digital signature certificate is a short job, and a first-time exporter needing ICEGATE registration, a digital signature certificate and three ports is not. We look at what is already in place and quote before starting.
Government fee: there is no DGFT or GST fee for an AD code. Your bank may charge for issuing the AD code letter, and its charges vary.
Professional fees exclude GST at 18%. Government fees, where they apply, are paid at actuals to the department and are shown separately. Fees verified on 27 September 2026.
For comparison, the two registrations either side of this one have published fees: an IEC costs ₹999 as a professional fee plus the ₹500 DGFT fee, and a digital signature is priced on that page.
What goes wrong without it
- The shipping bill does not get filed. Your customs broker cannot complete the filing under your IEC at a location where the bank account is not registered, so the consignment waits.
- Refunds and drawback do not arrive. IGST paid on exports and duty drawback are credited to a registered account, so an unregistered or unvalidated account leaves the money with the department.
- The paperwork trail breaks. Bank realisation of export proceeds is matched against the export documents, and a mismatch between the account on the shipping bill and the account receiving the money creates work at both ends.
AD code, IEC, GST and LUT: who does what
Exporters of goods usually need all four, and they are issued by four different places.
| Item | Issued or filed with | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| IEC | DGFT, on dgft.gov.in | Permission to import or export goods. Ten characters, same as your PAN, ₹500 government fee, annual update between April and June. See IEC registration |
| AD code registration | Your bank issues the code; you register it with customs on ICEGATE | Links your export bank account to customs for the shipping bill |
| GST registration | GST department, on gst.gov.in | Charging GST, input credit and export refunds. See GST registration |
| LUT in RFD-11 | GST portal, once each financial year | Lets you export goods or services without paying IGST. See LUT filing |
If you are exporting agricultural or processed food products, you will also need a registration-cum-membership certificate: see APEDA registration. Where IGST has been paid on exports, the refund route is on our GST refund page.
Common reasons an AD code registration is rejected or stuck
- Entity name mismatch. The bank letter, the IEC and the ICEGATE profile do not carry the name identically.
- Wrong account type selected on ICEGATE: the incentive account chosen instead of the Foreign Remittance Account, or the reverse.
- Digital signature problems. The certificate is expired, in an individual's name that is not the registered signatory, or not registered on ICEGATE.
- Bank letter without the port, where the port is expected, or naming a port other than the location being registered.
- Account number or IFSC typed differently from the cancelled cheque.
- Registering a location that is already approved and treating the duplicate rejection as a failure.
- Filing on the day of shipment, leaving no time for a query.
Why Regikart for AD code registration
Regikart is a CA and CS firm serving 250+ clients from offices in Kolkata (head office), Delhi and Bengaluru, working with clients across India online.
- We check before we file. The first step is reading what ICEGATE already shows against your IEC, because a surprising number of these jobs turn out to be unnecessary.
- The whole export set-up in one place. IEC, GST registration, LUT, GST refunds and the digital signature that signs all of it.
- Bank liaison. We tell you exactly what to ask your branch for, in the branch's own language, which is usually where first-time exporters lose a week.
- No invented promises. We do not publish a turnaround, because customs approval timing is not ours to promise.