Nine months to get paid is an Indian rule, not a law of nature
Indian exporters must realise export proceeds within nine months of shipment and hold the bank certificate that proves it. Of the other jurisdictions we model, not one imposes the same deadline. Carrying that clock abroad and leaving it behind at home are both expensive.
What the Indian rule is
Under FEMA, an Indian exporter is required to realise and repatriate export proceeds within nine months of the date of shipment, with the bank certificate — the BRC, now the eBRC — as the evidence. Miss it and you are not merely out of pocket; you have a regulatory position to explain, and your bank is the one who has to explain it.
What the other jurisdictions we model do
| India | Nine months, evidenced by BRC / eBRC |
| United Arab Emirates | No equivalent deadline |
| Germany, and the EU generally | No equivalent deadline |
| United Kingdom | No equivalent deadline |
| United States | No equivalent deadline |
| Singapore | No equivalent deadline |
| Jurisdictions where the clock runs | One of the six |
This is exchange-control regulation, not commercial practice. Everyone everywhere wants to be paid on time. Only some countries make being paid late a matter for the central bank.
Both mistakes cost something
An Indian exporter who forgets the deadline has a compliance problem that surfaces months after the shipment, when it is hardest to fix. A trader moving goods from the UAE to Germany whose software invents an Indian nine-month deadline has a different problem: nothing breaks, but they have been shown a rule that does not apply to them, and after the second one of those they stop believing the tool about anything.
How we handle it
The proceeds tracker appears when your jurisdiction actually imposes a rule and stays out of the way when it does not. Where a rule exists we show the authority and the evidence it wants, not just a countdown — because the countdown is the easy part.