USD account in India: an EEFC account vs a receiving account

What is an EEFC account?

An Exchange Earners’ Foreign Currency account is a facility RBI gives foreign-exchange earners, exporters included: a person resident in India can open one with an AD bank in India and credit up to 100% of their foreign-exchange earnings to it, without converting them to rupees. The rules sit in RBI’s Master Direction on Deposits and Accounts (section 3.1), under FEMA’s regulations on foreign currency accounts held by residents.

What are the EEFC rules?

• Current account, no interest. It can only be held as a current account, and no interest is paid on it.
• What can go in: foreign-exchange earnings received through normal banking channels, including advance payments for exports — not loans or investments.
• Monthly conversion: the total accruals in a calendar month should be converted to rupees by the last day of the following month, after adjusting for what you have used for approved purposes or committed forward.
• What it can pay for: permissible current and capital account payments abroad — for example, a software subscription or a supplier you pay in dollars.
• No borrowing against it: banks may not grant fund-based or non-fund-based credit against EEFC balances.

What is a USD receiving account?

A receiving account is a set of local US payment details — an account number and routing number — issued for your business by a cross-border collections provider. The account is held through an RBI-authorised Payment Aggregator – Cross Border (PA-CB). Your US client pays it by ACH or Fedwire like any domestic vendor; the PA-CB converts the dollars and settles rupees to your own Indian bank account, with a remittance advice for each payment.

EEFC vs receiving account: side by side

When does an EEFC account fit?

• You pay regular bills in dollars — software, ads, contractors abroad — and want to avoid converting twice.
• You receive large wires above a payment aggregator’s per-transaction limit.
• Your clients pay from outside the US by SWIFT anyway.

When does a receiving account fit?

• Your clients are in the US and their accounts-payable team pays vendors by ACH.
• You invoice many small or recurring amounts, where a SWIFT wire’s intermediary deductions bite hardest.
• You want each client to pay into their own details, so payments arrive already matched to the invoice.

Can I use both?

Yes. A common setup is a receiving account for US clients who pay by ACH, and an EEFC account at your bank for SWIFT receipts you want to keep in dollars for dollar expenses. Either way the export rules are the same: a purpose code on the invoice, an EDF within 30 days of the invoice month-end, and realisation within 9 months. Can I receive ACH payments in India? explains the ACH side in more detail.

On Payzoplus

Payzoplus issues USD receiving accounts in your business’s name — one per customer if you want — held through our RBI-authorised payment partner. US customers pay by ACH or Fedwire, rupees settle T+1 to your own bank, and your rate is shown beside mid-market before you convert. For each settlement you get the bank’s payment advice (the FIRA) exactly as it was issued, and our own remittance advice, which ties the payment to its invoice, remitter, purpose code and exchange rate. We do not issue e-BRCs: those are generated on the DGFT platform from the data banks report. We are not a bank and do not offer EEFC accounts — your bank does. See receiving accounts, or the complete guide to receiving international payments in India.