The commerce and industry ministry has launched the facility for online payment of application fees through credit or debit cards and other electronic fund transfers, according to a government statement. The facility of online payment was launched by commerce secretary Rita Teaotia. The move is aimed at improving ease of doing business for exporters and importers. With the online payment facility being available from 53 banks as well as credit and debit cards, it will be possible to not only apply online for benefits under various schemes under Foreign Trade Policy but also make payment of the required application fee online, thus totally obviating the need to visit the offices of directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) or banks for submission of applications. Applicants can now pay fees online to DGFT through their credit or debit cards or through net banking 24×7. “This facility would also make the field offices of DGFT paperless to a large extent and enable them to function in a 24×7 environment, while saving extra expenditure on storage space,” director general of foreign trade Pravir Kumar said. “It would also ensure transfer of the fee amount into government account on T+1 working day, avoiding undue delay in deposit of bank drafts.” DGFT has signed an agreement with the Central Bank of India, that will provide payment gateway services to the online portal of DGFT to enable applicants, exporters, importers to pay their application fees through credit or debit cards or through net banking. The Central Bank of India will provide e-challans, banks scrolls, transaction IDs for all successful transactions; refund amount to the applicant within 3 days and in case of failed transactions. Among the 53 public and private sector banks which are providing these facilities are Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and Deutsche Bank.
