The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has introduced various measures to facilitate trade by simplifying customs procedures and enabling digital payments. Electronic Cash Ledger was introduced in April 2023 for seamless duty payments and extended to courier shipments in March 2024. Continuous enhancements have been made to improve accessibility and integration with banking systems, leading to the present update enabling additional payment mechanisms.

1. Introduction of Payment Aggregator as an authorised mode for customs duty payment on the ICEGATE e-payment platform with the following features:
   • Payment through credit card, debit card, and Unified Payment Interface introduced for customs duty payment.
   • Internet banking expanded to allow payment through 41 banks via payment aggregator mode.
2. The payment aggregator mode complements existing payment modes such as internet banking through authorised banks and NEFT/RTGS through RBI.
3. The system enables transaction-wise payment routed instantaneously through the Electronic Cash Ledger before accounting for duty payment.
4. Any commission payable to banks for deposits through payment aggregator shall be borne by the person making the deposit.
5. Amendment to Regulation 3 of the Customs (Electronic Cash Ledger) Regulations, 2022 as follows:
   • In sub-regulation (6), after clause (c), the following clause shall be inserted:
     “(d) through payment aggregator;”
   • In sub-regulation (7), after the words “other than the internet banking through an authorised bank”, the words “or through payment aggregator” shall be inserted.
6. Banks onboarded initially as payment aggregators include ICICI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank, with further banks to be added subsequently.

Necessary legal amendments have been carried out vide Notification No. 30/2026-Customs (N.T.) to operationalise the payment aggregator facility.