AD Bank (Authorised Dealer Bank)

An Indian bank licensed by RBI to handle foreign-exchange transactions on behalf of customers. Every exporter must nominate one AD Bank per shipping bill.

Definition

AD Bank — Authorised Dealer Bank — is an Indian bank (public, private, or foreign) that RBI has licensed under FEMA to deal in foreign exchange. Every export shipping bill must nominate one AD Bank, which then owns the EDPMS closure for that bill.

What AD Banks do for exporters

• Receive foreign-exchange remittances
• Convert foreign currency to INR (or hold in a foreign-currency account per exporter preference)
• Close EDPMS entries against realized proceeds
• Issue eBRCs for DGFT scheme claims
• Handle extension and write-off requests for shipping bills approaching the RBI window

Categories

• AD Category I — full-service, all forex operations. Most Indian banks fall here
• AD Category II — limited scope (typically money-changers, travel agents)
• AD Category III — very limited scope

For exports, you always deal with AD Category I banks.

For Indian FBA exporters

Your AD Bank's operational competence directly determines how painful EDPMS closures are. Most AD Bank teams are trained on B2B closure patterns and struggle with FBA's multi-payment realization. When your bank rejects reconciliations, it's usually not personal — it's a knowledge gap.

See our diagnostic on the 8 reasons AD Banks reject FBA EDPMS closures.

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