AD code registration, and the port mapping that trips you up
An exporter discovers the AD code the hard way: the broker cannot file at a new port, or a refund goes nowhere. The registration is a small piece of paperwork with an outsized veto, and the rule about which port it lives at changed recently. Here is the current position and the documents behind it.
An AD code is the code identifying the authorised dealer bank branch through which an exporter's foreign exchange business runs, and its registration with Customs against a specific bank account is what connects an IEC to a port and to a payment route. Public Notice No. 40/2025 dated 12-09-2025 of the Principal Commissioner of Customs (Import), Air Cargo Complex, Mumbai Customs Zone-III, records the position plainly: registration of an AD code with an associated bank account in ICES was a one-time requirement per Customs EDI port for filing documents such as shipping bills.
What is an AD code registration for?
Two things, and they fail differently. The first is filing: the same public notice records that registration was a per-port requirement for filing documents such as shipping bills, so an unregistered port is a port your customs broker cannot file from. The second is payment. Rule 96(3) of the CGST Rules 2017 provides that the integrated tax refund on each shipping bill is electronically credited to the bank account of the applicant mentioned in the registration particulars and as intimated to the Customs authorities, so the account behind the registration is the account the money lands in.
What documents does the registration require?
Public Notice No. 63/2024 dated 21-12-2024 of the Principal Commissioner of Customs (General), Chennai Customs Zone, reproduces the requirement set by CBIC Instruction No. 25/2023 dated 28-07-2023. Two documents are uploaded on eSanchit: the bank's authorisation letter, and a copy of a cancelled cheque for the account, or the latest bank statement of that account endorsed by the bank. The authorisation letter has to carry the exporter's name and address, the IEC, the PAN associated with that IEC, the bank account number associated with it, the account holder's name, the bank's confirmation that the PAN linked to the account is the same as the PAN linked to the IEC, the AD code or IFSC code, and the branch's contact details and official email.
How is the registration actually done?
Public Notice No. 40/2025 dated 12-09-2025 records that a new registration or modification of an AD code must be made online through ICEGATE, and is approved by the officer assigned under the CLK role at the port of application. The same notice lists the documents it expects to be uploaded via eSANCHIT, including the bank's AD code letter, a cancelled cheque or bank statement, the IEC certificate, the GST registration, the PAN and a Class 3 digital signature certificate. The steps below follow that notice and Public Notice No. 63/2024 dated 21-12-2024. Neither notice is a substitute for the position at your own port.
1. Get the bank authorisation letter in the prescribed shape
Ask the branch for a letter carrying every element CBIC Instruction No. 25/2023 dated 28-07-2023 lists, including the confirmation that the PAN linked to the account matches the PAN linked to the IEC. A letter missing that confirmation is the most common reason for a return.
2. Assemble the supporting set
A cancelled cheque for the account, or the latest bank statement endorsed by the bank, per Public Notice No. 63/2024. Public Notice No. 40/2025 also expects the IEC certificate, the GST registration, the PAN and a Class 3 digital signature certificate to be available.
3. Upload on eSanchit and file the request on ICEGATE
Both notices route the documents through eSanchit and the request through the ICEGATE portal rather than through a counter. Public Notice No. 63/2024 advises trade to avoid physical interaction with the officers of Customs EDI now that the process is enabled online.
4. Track the status on the dashboard
Public Notice No. 40/2025 records a Bank Account and AD Code Registration Dashboard on ICEGATE, reached under Financial Services, then Bank Account Management, then Authorized Dealer (AD) Code Registration, showing statuses including System Pending, Customs Approved and Customs Rejected, with the reason where a request is rejected.
5. Record which port it was registered at
Public Notice No. 40/2025 provides that any amendment to a registered AD code, such as a change in bank details, must be made only at the port where it was originally registered. That port is worth writing into your own records the day the registration is approved.
What changed about the port mapping?
The part that used to cost the most time. Public Notice No. 40/2025 dated 12-09-2025 records that under the erstwhile process an AD code had to be registered separately at every port where the IEC intended to transact, with approvals required from officers at each individual port. Under the revised process, registration with an associated bank account is required only once at any one Customs port, and once approved the same AD code is made available system wide across all Customs locations. Multiple AD codes and bank accounts can still be registered against one IEC.
What happened to codes registered before the change?
They were mapped automatically, and the mapping is not obvious. Public Notice No. 40/2025 records that for existing AD codes the system considered the Customs port where the last shipping bill was filed using that AD code as the port of registration, and that the IEC holder can view the port of registration for each AD code under their ICEGATE login in the Bank Account Management section. That is the sentence that catches people out: the port your amendments now have to go through was chosen by your own filing history rather than by you, so it is worth checking before you need it.
Where does an AD code failure actually show up?
Never in a notice, always in a queue. A shipping bill that cannot be filed from a port is a booking that has to move. A refund that has nowhere to land under Rule 96(3) of the CGST Rules 2017 is a receivable that ages without anybody in finance knowing why. Both look like operational bad luck at the moment they happen, and both trace back to a registration nobody owned. The pattern is the same one described in one invoice value, thirteen assertions: the fact was right somewhere, and never copied to the system that needed it.
What should be checked, and when?
Three things, on a fixed cadence rather than at a crisis. Which port each AD code is registered at, because amendments have to go there. Whether the account behind the registration is still the account you want customs refunds credited to. And whether a new port on the shipping plan is covered, since the system wide availability recorded in Public Notice No. 40/2025 is a recent change and the safest check is the dashboard rather than an assumption. Purser Outbound keeps those artefacts and their dates against the shipment record, and Purser never submits to a government portal and never sends an outbound message without a recorded human approval event.
Where to go from here
The AD code is one of four registrations that sit behind every shipping bill, and the other three fail on their own schedules.
- The registration that expires annually. The IEC annual update runs in a fixed window, and a de-activated IEC takes the AD code registration's usefulness with it.
- What sits behind every shipment. Documents required to export from India maps the registrations and the per-shipment documents together.
- The document the registration serves. The shipping bill, field by field shows exactly where the bank account is read.
- The money at the other end. The two clocks on every RoDTEP claim covers the scheme credit that runs alongside the refund.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AD code registration with Customs for?
It connects an IEC to a port and to a bank account. Public Notice No. 40/2025 dated 12-09-2025 of Mumbai Customs Zone-III records that AD code registration with an associated bank account in ICES was a one-time requirement per Customs EDI port for filing documents such as shipping bills, and Rule 96(3) of the CGST Rules 2017 provides that the integrated tax refund is credited to the bank account intimated to the Customs authorities.
Do I have to register an AD code at every port?
Not under the revised process. Public Notice No. 40/2025 dated 12-09-2025 of Mumbai Customs Zone-III records that AD code registration with an associated bank account is now required only once at any one Customs port, and once approved the same AD code is made available system wide across all Customs locations. Previously it had to be registered separately at every port where the IEC intended to transact.
What documents does an AD code registration need?
Public Notice No. 63/2024 dated 21-12-2024 of Chennai Customs Zone, reproducing CBIC Instruction No. 25/2023 dated 28-07-2023, requires two documents on eSanchit: the bank's authorisation letter carrying the exporter's name and address, the IEC, the associated PAN and bank account, the account holder's name, the bank's confirmation that the account PAN matches the IEC PAN, the AD code or IFSC code and the branch's contact details; and a cancelled cheque or an endorsed bank statement.
Where do I amend an AD code after it is registered?
At the port where it was originally registered. Public Notice No. 40/2025 dated 12-09-2025 of Mumbai Customs Zone-III provides that any amendment to a registered AD code, such as a change in bank details, must be made only at that port, and that for existing AD codes the system treated the Customs port where the last shipping bill was filed using that code as the port of registration.
How do I check the status of an AD code registration?
Through the Bank Account and AD Code Registration Dashboard on the ICEGATE portal. Public Notice No. 40/2025 dated 12-09-2025 of Mumbai Customs Zone-III records that it is reached under Financial Services, then Bank Account Management, then Authorized Dealer (AD) Code Registration, and that it shows statuses including System Pending, Customs Approved and Customs Rejected, with reasons for rejection.