India — SWIFT/BIC Codes & Payment Info

To initiate a cross-border payment to India, the remitter must obtain all required bank information from the beneficiary, including the IFSC code, account number, and beneficiary bank address. Please note that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) administers the exchange control policy in conjunction with the government. Visit www.rbi.org.in for more information.

For payments of INR 500,000,000 and above, the remitter and beneficiary must provide their Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) in the Payment Details/Remittance information (F70). Payments without this information will be rejected. The LEI is a unique 20-character code used in financial transactions. The LEI must be validated prior to processing, and remitters should ensure it is available for all subsequent transactions. If you hold accounts with JPMCB India, you do not need to include your LEI in the payment message, but must provide your counterparties' LEI. Ensure remitters include their LEI as per the formatting guide: India Formatting Guide for LEI.

The domestic clearing systems in India include RTGS for high-value transfers starting from INR 200,000 and NEFT for low-value transfers with no specified amount threshold. Both systems require RTGS or NEFT enabled banks. Payments are processed in real time for RTGS and within two hours for NEFT during working hours.

It is important to be aware of payment restrictions: INR purchase is allowed for trade and current account purposes. Funds transfers from foreign currency accounts to INR accounts are allowed if regulations are followed. However, transferring funds from a local currency account to a foreign currency account is generally prohibited except under specific regulatory circumstances.

In general, there are no limits on the amount received, as long as the necessary supporting documents are provided. Sending payments to non-resident beneficiaries is permitted subject to foreign exchange management guidelines. Additional documentation may be required from the remitter and/or beneficiary.

Foreign Direct Investment: All cross border incoming remittances with purpose code as Foreign Direct Investment (P0006, P0007 & P0008) will require additional Declaration & details of the remitter/Investor which may cause delay in processing.

Payment Formatting Rules for INR:

• Ordering Customer (SWIFT MT103 F50): Include account number, full name, and address of the ordering customer.
• Beneficiary Customer (SWIFT MT103 F59): Include account number, full name, address, and as best practice, telephone number of the beneficiary customer. Beneficiary bank branch code (5 digits) must be included in Field 59.
• Account number can’t contain dashes, spaces, or any other non-standard characters.
• Beneficiary Bank (SWIFT MT103 F57): Include beneficiary bank branch’s full name, address, including branch postal identification number (PIN), and branch telephone number (highly recommended). Do not include SWIFT BIC. India does not use the SWIFT BIC network for domestic messaging. All payments must include the Indian Financial Services Code (IFSC) for electronic delivery of the payment.

Effective March 15, 2023, all cross border INR payments into India using the below three purpose codes, or quoting ‘Donation’ in its description, will not be processed until further notice.

• P1302 Personal gifts and donations
• P1303 Donations to religious and charitable institutions in India
• P1304 Grants and donations to governments and charitable institutions established by the governments

Reason for Payment (SWIFT MT103 F70): For timely processing of your payments > INR 500,000,000, please include the LEI information in your payment instructions following the format indicated below.

Beneficiary is non-individual entity -
Rem LEI XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ben LEI XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<>

Beneficiary is individual
Rem LEI XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ben LEI NABENINDIVIDUAL00000<>

Remitter is individual
Rem LEI NAREMINDIVIDUAL00000
Ben LEI XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Beneficiary/Remitter is individual
Rem LEI NAREMINDIVIDUAL00000
Ben LEI NABENINDIVIDUAL00000

Reason for Payment (SWIFT MT103 F72):
Payment purpose code is mandatory. Payments received without a specific purpose code will be cancelled and returned to the remitter. Please refer to the Reserve Bank of India’s payment purpose codes, beginning with “P”: Link
Format: /ACC/PURPOSE/IN<Purpose code><Country code providing ultimate service>*
If in case of space limitation in field 72, the purpose code in the above format can be mentioned in field 70. For specific purpose codes, the country code where the ultimate service was provided must be included. Please refer to the following link for impacted purpose codes: Link

Include individual’s account type in the payment details field.
Please contact the beneficiary to determine the type of account held by the beneficiary. Account types include:
Non-Resident Emigrant (NRE) - Format: /NRE/
Non-Resident Ordinary Account (NRO) - Format: /NRO/

Note: In order to avoid any delay in processing your transactions, kindly map the appropriate purpose code from the above link instead of using ‘P1099’ (Other services not included elsewhere), as we may seek further information on the transactions before applying the credits.

Additional Information:
In addition to the purpose code, you may also provide purpose of remittance within the narrative of the payment, to avoid potential issues. If the RTGS IFSC or NEFT IFSC is missing or invalid, or the sending or receiving banks are not RTGS-enabled, a draft will be issued and mailed if the full beneficiary bank branch name, building, street, location, and PIN (Postal Identification Number) are provided in the Beneficiary Bank Field.
LEI applicable for Cross border transactions for accounts with JPMCB India. Ensure for ESOP/ESPP remittances, additional declarations, signed debit authority, and an Annexure with employee details are provided. Payments without this documentation will be on hold. Tax obligations will rely on the declarations or Annexure you provide.
Include a tax code and updated additional information in field 70. Ensure that the purpose of payment is specified mandatorily in free form. Include the 10-digit purpose code for all incoming and outgoing foreign payments. For purposes of payments and beneficiary customer details, adhere to the Payment Formatting Rules specific to IDR. Specify details of sender's business and profession/vocation in MT103 field 70. Include transit codes and follow transaction size limits for payments without Cadastro set up. Provide the purpose of payment code along with beneficiary taxpayer details if applicable. Note that incorporation (DOI) is not mandatory for payments out of New York branch debit accounts. Supporting documents are required for payments to NGOs.