DGFT trade notice 33/2025-26 · 20 Mar 2026
Official title
Clarification on Support for Interest Subvention for pre-shipment and post-shipment credit
Official record
Open source pageSummary
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has issued amendments to the Interest Subvention Support guidelines under the Export Promotion Mission (Niryat Protsahan). Key updates include requirements for Unique Identification Number (UIN) generation before loan disbursal, the non-transferability of UINs upon changing banks, and the exclusion of interest subvention for accounts classified as Non-Performing Assets. Exporters are responsible for ensuring aggregate claims remain within the Rs. 50 lakh annual ceiling. Banks must now follow specific online portal registration and claim submission procedures. Subvention is only applicable to credit disbursed on or after January 2, 2026, provided the UIN was generated by the date of disbursement. Existing UINs from the erstwhile Interest Equalisation Scheme are ineligible for this program.
What you must do
Key dates
Who is affected
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If you do not comply
Government of India Ministry of Commerce & Industry Department of Commerce Directorate General of Foreign Trade Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi
Trade Notice No. 33/2025-26 Dated: 20th March 2026
Subject: Amendments to Guidelines for Interest Subvention Support for Pre- and Post-Shipment Export Credit under Export Promotion Mission – Niryat Protsahan– regarding
In reference to the guidelines of Interest Subvention Support for Pre- and Post-Shipment Export Credit under Export Promotion Mission (EPM) in Trade Notice No. 20/2025-26 dated January 02, 2026, and Trade Notice No. 22/2025-26 dated January 16,2026 the following amendments and insertions are hereby issued for operational clarity and certainty. These shall form part of the Interest Subvention Support for Pre- and Post-Shipment Export Credit under Export Promotion Mission (EPM) - Niryat Protsahan as issued earlier-
| Para No. | Existing Text | Revised/Inserted Text |
|---|---|---|
| Draft HBP Para X.1(b) | Export credit extended by lending institutions in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India’s consolidated Directions on Credit Facilities, as amended from time to time, shall qualify for support under this component. | The credit facility shall be eligible for the interest subvention benefit as per the ongoing directions of Reserve Bank of India’s Consolidated Directions on Credit Facilities in force including in respect to period and structure. |
| Inserted -Draft Appendix-A Para 3(f) | Interest subvention shall not be admissible from the date on which the loan account is classified as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), and no subvention benefit shall be extended with effect from such date. | |
| Draft HBP Para X.4(e) | Where an exporter avails export credit from more than one lending institution, the responsibility to ensure that aggregate interest subvention claims remain within the prescribed annual ceiling shall rest solely with the beneficiary exporter. Any excess claim identified shall be recoverable in accordance with applicable provisions. | Where an exporter avails export credit from more than one lending institution, the responsibility to ensure that aggregate interest subvention claims remain within the prescribed annual ceiling shall rest solely with the beneficiary exporter. Any excess claim identified shall be recoverable in accordance with applicable provisions. An undertaking may be obtained by the banks from the exporter on cross-bank interest subvention not exceeding the Rs.50 lakh per IEC limit. |
| Draft HBP Para X.4(d) | The Entity shall furnish the applicable UIN to their lending bank, and the bank shall report interest subvention claims mapped to the corresponding UIN. | The Entity shall furnish the applicable UIN to their lending bank, and the bank shall report interest subvention claims mapped to the corresponding UIN. A new Unique Identification Number (UIN) shall be required to be generated reflecting the revised bank details in cases where the borrower changes the lending bank. Portability of UIN shall not be permitted, and the existing UIN shall not be transferred to the new bank. Further, the UIN must be generated on or before the date of disbursal of pre-shipment or post-shipment export credit, failing which interest subvention support shall not be admissible in respect of such disbursal. The rate of interest subvention applicable shall be the rate prevailing on the date of loan disbursal. |
| Inserted Draft HBP X.1 (f) | Addition of new Tariff Line to the Positive List:
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| Inserted Appendix A Para-5 | Title: Claim submission by banks/lending institutions. a. The Bank must first register on the online portal. b. After completing the registration, the Bank will be required to log in to the portal to submit the reimbursement claim online. c. The Bank must enter the list of UIN of the borrowers in the designated field. d. Upon entering the UIN, the bank will be able to review the borrower's details as submitted at the time of filing the intent-to-claim. e. The Bank will also be required to provide additional information related to the loan extended to the borrower. f. The detailed list of data fields is to be submitted, along with the workflow for claim submission, in the prescribed format. | |
| Inserted Draft Para X.4 (f) |
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| Draft Appendix A Para 4(d) | In cases where the borrower repays the entire loan amount in advance before the stipulated tenure, the lending institution shall report the early foreclosure of the loan account to the RBI. | In cases where the borrower repays the entire loan amount in advance before the stipulated tenure, the lending institution shall report the early foreclosure of the loan account to the RBI. Interest subvention shall be applied only for the actual period the credit remained outstanding. |
| Draft HBP Para X.2(a) | Export credit shall continue to be sanctioned and disbursed by eligible commercial lending institutions as per applicable RBI guidelines. The interest subvention shall be passed on upfront to the eligible MSME exporter by the lending institution, and the corresponding reimbursement shall be claimed by the lending institution from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as per operational procedures notified from time to time. | Export credit shall continue to be sanctioned and disbursed by lending institutions as per applicable Reserve Bank of India’s Consolidated Directions on Credit Facilities. The interest subvention shall be passed on upfront to the eligible MSME exporter by the lending institution, and the corresponding reimbursement shall be claimed by the lending institution from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as per operational procedures notified from time to time. |
Interest subvention shall be admissible only in respect of Export credit (pre-shipment and post-shipment) disbursed on or after 2 January 2026. Export credit (pre-shipment and post-shipment) disbursed prior to the issuance of the Trade Notice (i.e., before 2nd January 2026) shall not be eligible.
If the export credit has been disbursed after 2nd January 2026, the Interest Subvention Support shall apply from the date of loan disbursement, given that the UIN/UDIN has been generated and submitted to the bank on the date of disbursement. This implies that the cases where loan has been disbursed, but UIN has not been generated will not be considered under the scheme.
Where a credit facility is renewed with a top-up, only the additional amount disbursed shall be treated as a fresh credit exposure and shall be eligible for subvention at the rate applicable on the date of export credit disbursement. The existing outstanding portion shall continue to be governed by the subvention rate applicable at the time of its original disbursement.
In respect of UIN/UDIN, at the time of the intent-to-claim application for generating the UIN/UDIN, the status of IEC is verified by the online system. Further, banks may also verify the IEC status on the DGFT Website. Additionally, Open APIs are hosted on API Setu for consumption by banks systems for IEC verifications.
