Tracks every shipping bill until the money lands, for small exporters
TL;DR Exportmoney is software for small Indian exporters selling into the Gulf, South Asia and Africa. It matches every shipping bill to the buyer's payments, warns before RBI's nine-month deadline, compares what each payment route really costs, and prepares the bank paperwork. Exporters pay a monthly subscription.
An Indian exporter must bring the full value of goods home through an authorised bank, normally within nine months of shipping[1]. Miss that and the bill sits open with the bank. Write-offs are capped at 5% of the previous year's realisations for ordinary exporters, the dues must be over a year old first, and exporters on RBI's caution list lose access to some bank facilities[1].
Small firms track this in spreadsheets, if they track it at all. Buyers in smaller markets pay late, pay in parts or net off a claim, and the exporter only finds out a bill is overdue when the bank writes. And what does each payment really cost? Hard to say - one collection platform's own comparison puts the loss on a bank conversion at 1.7% of the payment[2].
What it does, in regulatory terms: compliance and reconciliation software. It never holds or moves money. Payments flow only through AD banks or RBI-authorised cross-border payment aggregators, as the export rules require[1][3].
Here's how it works. The exporter connects shipping-bill data and bank statements, and Exportmoney matches each receipt to a bill, flags short payments and part payments, and counts down the days left on each one. It drafts polite reminders to buyers and sends the bank what it needs to close a bill. For each new order it shows the true landed cost of the main routes - a bank wire, an authorised aggregator, or rupee invoicing through a Special Rupee Vostro Account where the buyer's bank has one[4].
The seed pitched regional stablecoins and decentralised exchange, and I've dropped both. Export receipts must come through an authorised bank[1], and crypto gains attract 30% tax with no set-off for losses[5], so a stablecoin route breaks the law for trade and adds cost. The goal of cheaper regional payments survives on licensed rails.
The exporter pays a flat monthly fee by number of open bills, which is my assumption to test. Today they pay through hidden FX spreads, aggregator fees such as one platform's USD 19 up to USD 2,000 and USD 29 up to USD 10,000[2], and staff time chasing buyers. Chartered accountants who handle export compliance for many clients are a second channel.
RBI's PA-CB rules from October 2023 brought cross-border aggregators under authorisation, with net worth rising to ₹25 Cr[3], so there are now licensed partners to route through. The export Master Direction was updated in July 2026[1]. Rupee invoicing, allowed since July 2022, gives an option for some regional buyers that few small exporters have tried[4].
There's no public figure for overdue export receivables among Indian small firms, or for spending on export-compliance software. The narrowest demand signal is a company claim - one export-collection platform says more than 40,000 Indian exporters use its collection service[2]. That shows small exporters will pay for a better route, though it covers collection, not tracking.
Export-collection platforms collect payments for exporters with flat fees, no FX margin and instant inward remittance certificates[2]. Banks offer trade portals for their own customers. Neither follows a bill from shipment to closure across several banks and routes, and most collection tools favour buyers in major currencies. The gap is the small exporter with buyers in Dubai, Dhaka and Nairobi and no one watching the clock.
| Difficulty | Moderate (41/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹55–95 L |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The software is ordinary, honestly. Matching messy bank credits to bills, especially part payments and netted claims, is the fiddly part. Earning trust from banks and from exporters who guard their numbers takes time, and you need FEMA expertise on call to stay on the right side of advice.
No licence for the software itself, provided you never touch the money.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI advise on write-offs, routes or FEMA questions on its own. That's regulated territory, so keep a qualified person signing off.
Want to work out the AI layer for Exportmoney? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is a sensible, modest business for a founder from export operations, trade finance or a CA practice. If you're chasing payment volumes or a crypto thesis then look elsewhere. Prove first that 30 exporters with open bills will connect their data and that Exportmoney finds at least one bill per firm that would otherwise have slipped past nine months.
Plan for roughly ₹55–95 L, mostly on product, bank data connections and FEMA expertise on call.
Not if it never holds or moves money. Payments must still flow through AD banks or RBI-authorised cross-border aggregators, and you need DPDP compliance for the data.
Yes, small exporters everywhere chase late buyers. Check your country's foreign exchange repatriation rules, since few are as strict as India's nine-month deadline.
The free Exportmoney validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the FEMA and payment-aggregator checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for exporters and CAs, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Exportmoney or something close to it? The make-or-break work is getting exporters to connect bank and shipping data they normally keep close, and that's the kind of thing I help founders with. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.