Government Schemes • 5 min read

How to Apply for Import Export License

Most people searching how to apply for import export license think they are applying for a licence. They are not. They are applying for the Importer Exporter Code, a 10-digit number issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, and the whole thing is done on one government portal for Rs 500 in about two working days. The paperwork is not the hard part. Knowing which screen asks for what, and what happens after the certificate lands in your inbox, is where most first-time applicants lose two weeks. At StartupFlora, we file IEC applications for MSMEs and first-time exporters every week, so this guide is the actual sequence, not the marketing version. This is the process guide. If you want the wider picture on what the IEC is, what it costs you over a lifetime and which entity type suits your business