Annual IEC updation.
An importer exporter code no longer sits still. Every holder has to update it electronically each year between April and June — and where nothing has changed, to log in and confirm that nothing has changed. An IEC that is not updated is deactivated, and a deactivated IEC stops consignments at the port, not in an office.
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A code that used to be permanent, and no longer is.
For years an importer exporter code was issued once and forgotten. It had no expiry, no renewal and no annual return. That changed with the amendment to the Foreign Trade Policy that introduced mandatory annual updation: every holder must ensure the details in its IEC are updated electronically each year during the April to June window, and where there is nothing to change, must confirm that online.
The confirmation requirement is the part that catches people. Doing nothing is not the same as having nothing to update. An IEC where every detail is correct still has to be logged into and confirmed, every year, or it falls into exactly the same position as one with stale information.
The sanction is deactivation. An IEC that is not updated within the prescribed period is deactivated, and a deactivated IEC cannot be used. That does not mean a letter arrives — it means a shipping bill will not go through, a bill of entry will not clear, and a consignment sits where it is while somebody works out why.
Reactivation is available on successful updation, and the policy says so expressly, but it is without prejudice to any other action for the underlying non-compliance. The practical cost is almost never the reactivation itself. It is the demurrage, the missed shipping window and the customer whose order did not move.
What the annual updation actually covers.
More than a tick box. These are the fields that go stale without anyone noticing.
| Particular | Why it drifts | What it affects if wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Address of the entity and its branches | Premises change and nobody links the IEC to the move | Communications from the department, and consistency with the GST and company records customs cross-check |
| Directors, partners or proprietor | Board and partner changes are filed with the Registrar and not with the trade authority | Authorisation of the person signing shipping documents and applications |
| Bank account details | Accounts are switched or closed as banking relationships change | Remittances, refunds and any benefit routed through the account |
| Contact details | Old email addresses and phone numbers from the year the IEC was taken | Every notice and alert from the department, including the one warning of deactivation |
| Nature of business and sectors | The business diversifies and the registration describes what it used to do | Eligibility for schemes and the consistency of declarations made at export |
The IEC is linked to the entity's permanent account number, and one entity holds one IEC. Where a business has more than one code — usually a legacy of a restructuring or a proprietorship converted into a company — that needs resolving separately, because holding multiple codes against one permanent account number is itself a problem.
Six ways an IEC goes dead.
"Nothing changed, so there was nothing to do"
The most common and the most costly. Where there are no changes, the holder still has to log in and confirm that online during the window. Silence is treated as non-updation, not as confirmation, and the consequence is identical.
Nobody was watching April to June
The window is fixed and there is no meeting, no accountant and no auditor whose process touches it. Businesses that import once or twice a year discover the deactivation at the moment of the next shipment rather than at any point in between.
The digital signature or e-sign was not ready
The updation is authenticated with a digital signature or Aadhaar e-sign of an authorised person. An expired certificate, or an authorised signatory who has left the business, turns a fifteen-minute task into a week of arrangements — usually discovered in the last week of June.
The IEC still names a director who has gone
Board changes are filed with the Registrar and stop there. The trade record continues to show a person who resigned two years ago, which is both a stale record and a problem when the authorised signatory on export documents is questioned.
The deactivation was found at the port
This is the failure mode that matters. Nothing on the company's premises indicates a problem, and the first sign is a customs filing that will not go through with a consignment already in motion. The cost is demurrage and a missed shipment, not a compliance fee.
The linked registrations were not aligned
The address on the IEC, on the GST registration, on the company record and on the authorised dealer code with the bank all have to tell the same story. An updation that fixes one and leaves the others is a partial fix, and the mismatch surfaces at the next scrutiny rather than immediately.
What you receive.
Fifteen minutes, if the groundwork is done.
Check the current status
Whether the IEC is active or already deactivated, when it was last updated, and what particulars the record currently carries. This is done before April rather than during it.
Reconcile the details
The address, directors or partners, bank account and contact details on the IEC are compared against the company or LLP record, the GST registration and the current banking arrangements. Differences are listed rather than assumed away.
Confirm the signatory
Who is authorised to sign for the entity, whether that person is still with the business, and whether their digital signature or Aadhaar e-sign is current. This is the step that most often adds a week.
Update or confirm on the portal
Changes are made where there are any, and where there are none the details are confirmed online. Either way the action is completed inside the April to June window, and the acknowledgement is saved.
Align the linked records
Where the IEC has been corrected, the same change is checked against the GST registration, the authorised dealer code with the bank and the company record, so the four documents agree with each other.
Diarise and close
The acknowledgement goes into the trade file and next April is recorded, alongside any registration-cum-membership certificate or other trade registration that runs on its own renewal cycle.
Four things to start.
The code itself
With the portal access, because the updation is done in the holder's own account.
- IEC number and the entity it is held in
- Permanent account number of the entity
- Portal login, or the registered email it goes to
The current entity details
So the record can be reconciled rather than confirmed blind.
- Registered and operating addresses
- Current directors, partners or proprietor
- Bank account details in use for trade
The signatory
The task cannot be completed without a valid signature from an authorised person.
- Who is authorised to sign for the entity
- Whether their digital signature is current
- Whether Aadhaar e-sign is available to them
The trade position
Useful context, and occasionally it changes the advice entirely.
- Whether the entity is actively importing or exporting
- Any consignment currently in transit
- Any other trade registration held
What this looks like in Goa.
A great many Goa businesses hold an IEC for a handful of consignments a year — equipment for a hotel, fittings for a restaurant, stock for a boutique. The code is invisible between shipments, which is exactly why the April window passes unnoticed.
The updation window falls in the off season and the consignments arrive before the season starts. The deactivation is therefore discovered at the worst possible point in the calendar, with a shipment already moving.
IECs taken for a plan that never materialised still have to be updated annually. Where the business genuinely will not trade, surrendering the code is cleaner than leaving it to be deactivated.
Businesses that started as a proprietorship and later incorporated frequently end up with the code held against the wrong entity, or with two codes in the picture. That is a separate correction and it is better done outside a shipping deadline.
Where the company has moved its registered office and updated the Registrar but not the trade record, the two documents disagree. Customs and the bank both look at consistency across registrations, so the IEC has to move with everything else.
Usually needed alongside this.
IEC updation, answered.
Does an IEC need to be renewed every year?
Not renewed — updated. The code itself has no expiry, but every holder must ensure its details are updated electronically each year during the April to June window.
Where there is nothing to change, the holder still has to confirm the existing details online. That confirmation is the requirement people miss, because it feels like there is nothing to do.
What happens if the IEC is not updated?
It is deactivated. A deactivated IEC cannot be used, which in practice means shipping bills and bills of entry will not go through and consignments stop moving.
The code can be reactivated on successful updation, and the policy provides for that expressly — but the reactivation is without prejudice to any other action for the non-compliance. The real cost is almost always the delay at the port rather than anything payable to the department.
We had no changes at all. Do we still have to do something?
Yes. This is the single most misunderstood point on the page. Where there are no changes, the requirement is to confirm online that there are none.
Not logging in at all is treated as failure to update, and the consequence is the same deactivation that applies to a holder with stale details. The confirmation takes minutes, so there is no upside at all in skipping it.
When exactly is the window?
April to June each year. It is a fixed annual window rather than a rolling twelve months from the last update.
Because there is no meeting, no accountant and no audit cycle that touches it, the window has to be diarised deliberately. Doing it in the first week of April removes the risk entirely and costs no more than doing it in the last week of June.
What is actually updated?
The particulars held against the code: the address of the entity and its branches, the directors, partners or proprietor, bank account details, contact details, and the nature of the business.
In practice the fields that go stale are the ones that changed elsewhere and were never carried across — a registered office move, a director who resigned, a bank account that was closed, or an email address from the year the code was taken.
Who can sign the updation?
An authorised person of the entity, using a digital signature or Aadhaar e-sign. The updation is completed within the holder's own account on the trade portal.
The recurring problem is that the authorised signatory has left the business, or their digital signature has lapsed. Both are fixable, but neither is fixable in a day, which is why the signatory position is checked in March rather than in June.
Our IEC is already deactivated. Can we get it back?
Yes. A deactivated IEC may be reactivated on successful updation of its details, without prejudice to any other action that may be taken for the underlying non-compliance.
If a consignment is already in motion, that is the priority and the updation is done immediately. If nothing is moving, it is worth taking the opportunity to reconcile the record properly rather than simply confirming whatever is on it, because the details are usually out of date in more than one place.
We have not imported or exported in years. Does it still apply?
Yes. The obligation attaches to holding the code, not to using it. A dormant IEC has to be updated every year in the same window as an active one.
Where the business genuinely has no intention of trading internationally again, surrendering the code is a cleaner outcome than leaving it to be deactivated and forgotten — particularly if the entity is otherwise being wound down or made dormant.
Can one business hold more than one IEC?
No. The code is linked to the entity's permanent account number and one entity holds one code.
Multiple codes against the same permanent account number do turn up, usually as a legacy of a restructuring or a proprietorship that was later incorporated without the trade registration following. That is a separate correction, and it should be dealt with well away from a shipping deadline rather than in the middle of one.
What else should be checked at the same time?
Consistency across the four records that customs and banks look at together: the IEC, the GST registration, the company or LLP record, and the authorised dealer code held with the bank. If the address or the authorised person differs between them, the mismatch will surface eventually.
It is also the natural moment to check any registration-cum-membership certificate or other trade registration the business holds, since those run on their own renewal cycles and are missed for the same reason the IEC is.
Send the IEC number before April, not before a shipment.
A status check takes minutes and tells you whether the code is live and when it was last updated. If it is already deactivated and something is in transit, say so — that moves to the front of the queue.