UP Air Freight Subsidy (GO 829): 30 Percent or Rs 150 per kg

Verified as on 4 October 2026 against Government Order No. 829/18-4-2025 dated 6 November 2025 and its annexures. Written by Pratham Agarwal, Founder, Rasp International.

UP air freight subsidy: the short answer

Under Government Order No. 829/18-4-2025 dated 6 November 2025, the Air Freight Rationalisation Scheme, a Micro, Small or Medium Enterprise (MSME) exporter of Uttar Pradesh gets back 30 percent of the air freight, including cargo handling costs, or Rs 150 per kg, whichever is less. The cap is Rs 10 lakh per unit per financial year. Goods can fly from any air cargo complex in India as long as their state of origin is Uttar Pradesh. The claim must be filed within 180 days of the date of dispatch. Payment is subject to approval and budget.

The rule that decides everything: work out both 30 percent of the air freight and Rs 150 times the weight, and claim the smaller figure within 180 days of dispatch.

Key facts table: UP air freight subsidy

What GO 829 changed

Uttar Pradesh already had an air freight scheme. It helped units that exported perishables, agricultural, horticultural and industrial products through air cargo complexes located inside the state. GO 829 keeps that and widens it. Under the UP Export Promotion Policy 2025-30 the state decided to also help units that fly their goods out through air cargo complexes outside Uttar Pradesh.

Paragraph 1 puts it plainly. Under paragraph 8.2 of the policy, the benefit is available when an exporter unit exports through any air cargo complex in the country, provided the state of origin of the exported products is Uttar Pradesh.

That matters because most UP air exports do not leave from Lucknow or Varanasi. They leave from Delhi, and some from Mumbai or Bengaluru. Under the old rule those shipments were outside the scheme. Under GO 829 they are inside it.

The test has moved from the airport to the goods. What decides eligibility now is where the goods come from, not where the plane takes off. A Moradabad brassware sample flown from Delhi, a Malihabad mango consignment flown from Lucknow and a Kanpur leather order flown from Mumbai all sit under the same order, the same rate and the same Rs 10 lakh cap. What changes from one to another is only the arithmetic of 30 percent against Rs 150 per kg, which the sections below walk through.

Who can claim the UP air freight subsidy

Paragraph 9 of GO 829 makes the facility available to all MSME manufacturing or merchant exporter units of Uttar Pradesh, as defined from time to time under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act 2006, that are registered with the Export Promotion Bureau, Uttar Pradesh and the Uttar Pradesh Export Promotion Council at the time of the work.

• MSME only. The affidavit asks you to state your category under the MSME Act 2006 and the notification dated 21 March 2025.
• Manufacturers and merchants. GO 829 names both in the eligibility sentence itself, and the claim form asks you to mark merchant or manufacturer.
• Both registrations. The claim form has a Registration Number block with EPBUP, UPEPC and Udyam lines, and the documents list asks for a copy of the EPB and EPC registration. See our guide to Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC registration.
• Uttar Pradesh origin. The goods must have Uttar Pradesh as their state of origin. Paragraph 2 speaks of perishables produced in the state, agricultural and horticultural products and industrial products.

Who cannot claim

• A unit that is not an MSME under the 2006 Act.
• A unit not registered with both the Bureau and UPEPC at the time of the work.
• Goods whose state of origin is not Uttar Pradesh, even if the exporter’s office is in the state.
• A unit that has taken a full or partial benefit of the same nature from any other central or state scheme for the same purpose. Paragraph 7 bars it and the affidavit asks you to declare it.
• Sea shipments. Inland freight to a sea port falls under GO 828, a different order with container based limits.
• A claim filed more than 180 days after dispatch.

How much you get: 30 percent or Rs 150 per kg

Paragraph 3 of GO 829 sets the grant on the freight of goods exported by air from Uttar Pradesh. The freight includes the other costs related to cargo handling. The grant is 30 percent of that amount or Rs 150 per kilogram, whichever is less. One exporter unit can receive at most Rs 10.00 lakh in a financial year.

Rate table

What freight is counted

GO 829 says the 30 percent applies to the expenditure on the freight of the goods by air, and that this includes other expenditure related to cargo handling. So the base is wider than the airline’s freight line alone. Handling charges billed for the cargo can be part of it. The value of the goods is not part of it.

The claim form asks for the total cost of air cargo in rupees and for a transportation cash receipt number and date. The CA certificate states the amount spent by the unit as air freight on the goods. Keep those three figures the same.

What weight is counted

The claim form has one weight column, “Weight of Exported Products (in KGS)”. The CA certificate also states the quantity exported in kg. The order does not say whether that is gross weight, net weight or chargeable weight. Use the weight that your airway bill and CA certificate both support, and use the same figure everywhere. This is under Not yet confirmed.

Worked examples in rupees

These are illustrations of the GO 829 rule, not client figures and not a promise of payment.

Worked example table

The pattern is worth noticing. For bulky, cheap to fly cargo such as vegetables or fruit, the 30 percent test usually decides. For light, expensive to fly cargo such as samples, spares or small consignments, the Rs 150 per kg test usually decides. Do both sums for every shipment.

Worked example of the Rs 10 lakh year cap

A Lucknow mango exporter flies 10 consignments in a season, each giving a grant of Rs 1,26,000. Ten times Rs 1,26,000 is Rs 12.6 lakh. The year cap stops the unit at Rs 10 lakh. The extra Rs 2.6 lakh is not carried forward by the order. This is an illustration, not a client.

The 180 day claim window

Paragraph 4.1 of GO 829 says that after the exporter unit sends the goods to the foreign buyer by air, it must file its claim online on the department’s portal within a maximum of 180 days from the date of dispatch. Claims filed after that will not be accepted.

The order uses the date of dispatch. The claim form asks for the shipping bill date, the date of shipment and the airway bill date. It does not say which one is the date of dispatch for the portal. Count your 180 days from the earliest of them.

Deadline examples table

Day 180 above counts the day after dispatch as day 1. The order does not say how the count starts, so treat these as the outer limit.

How a GO 829 claim moves after you file

GO 829 uses the district route. These are the steps as paragraph 4 sets them out.

1. Online filing. You file within 180 days of dispatch and upload copies of all the required records with the claim.
2. 15 days to correct yourself. Within 15 days of the application date you can fix errors or gaps in the form yourself.
3. District check, 21 days. The Deputy Commissioner Industries at the District Industries Promotion and Entrepreneurship Development Centre must examine the claim within 21 days of it appearing at their level and forward it to the Export Promotion Bureau.
4. Incomplete claims. If records are missing, the full details of the gap are entered online and the claim is reverted to you. You can refile within 15 days after fixing the gaps. If you do not, the claim is treated as rejected automatically. A refiled claim is examined again and forwarded within 21 days.
5. Automatic forwarding. If the Deputy Commissioner neither forwards nor reverts within 21 days, the claim goes to the Bureau automatically and responsibility is fixed on the officer.
6. Ineligible claims. Claims outside the scheme are forwarded to the Bureau with clear reasons and a recommendation to reject.
7. Committee and payment. The Authorised Committee decides claims first come, first served. Payment goes by Direct Benefit Transfer, within the budget for the year.

Claim clock table

Who decides your claim: the Authorised Committee

Paragraph 5 gives the committee the power to set the online filing process, decide the records to be uploaded, change them and accept claims. It has five members.

The Director of Agriculture Marketing and Foreign Trade sits on this committee because a large share of UP air exports is fresh produce. Expect your HSN codes and weights for perishables to be read carefully.

Documents GO 829 asks for

Annexure 1: the claim form

• Name of the exporting unit
• Name of the proprietor, managing director, director or partner
• IEC code
• Type of unit: merchant or manufacturer
• Registration numbers: EPBUP, UPEPC and Udyam

Then a Details of Shipment table with one row per shipment:

• Shipping bill number and date
• Date of shipment
• List of products exported with HSN code
• Weight of exported products in kg
• Airway bill number and date on the airway bill
• Total cost of air cargo in rupees
• Transportation cash receipt number and date

Below the table the form asks for the expense as per the declaration by the CA.

Supporting documents list

The claim form lists eight supporting documents:

1. Copy of Udyam registration
2. Copy of EPB and EPC registration
3. Copy of packing list and invoice
4. Copy of the customs verified bill (LEO)
5. Copy of the airway bill
6. CA certificate of the expense in the prescribed format
7. Declaration from the exporting unit
8. Copy of the bank realisation certificate

Annexure 2: affidavit on Rs 10 stamp paper

The affidavit records your name, the firm, address, Udyam registration certificate number, IEC code, EPB registration number and date. It then states:

1. How many times the unit has submitted this claim in the financial year.
2. The unit’s MSME category under the MSME Act 2006 and the notification dated 21 March 2025.
3. Whether the unit is a merchant or manufacturer.
4. That the firm has not received any financial grant or benefit from any state or central government scheme against this claim.
5. That all information is true and nothing has been hidden, and that strict action can follow if it is found false.

Chartered accountant certificate

The CA certifies that the unit exported a stated quantity in kg of a stated product by air, between stated dates, from a named air cargo complex to a named country, and that the unit spent a stated amount as air freight on those goods. The CA confirms the details were checked against the unit’s records. It is signed with seal, name, registration number and address, with date and place.

Document checklist table

Where GO 829 claims go wrong

Payment priority and the budget

Paragraph 8 gives priority at payment time to units that took part in national or international fairs and events organised by the state, the Export Promotion Bureau or UPEPC. Paragraph 6 makes payment first come, first served and limited to the year’s budget, with the committee deciding whether leftover claims move to the next year. File early in the financial year, and keep proof of any Bureau or Council fair you joined.

Air freight subsidy and other schemes

GO 829 is for air freight. For containers moved by road or rail to a sea port or a land port, see our UP gateway port freight subsidy guide under GO 828. Do not put the same shipment into both.

Samples sent to foreign buyers are a separate head under the UP MDA scheme, GO 811, which pays 75 percent of actual spending on free trade samples up to Rs 2 lakh a year. If you send a sample by air, choose one order for that cost. The affidavit asks you to declare that no other scheme has paid for it. For every UP order in one place, see our UP export subsidy schemes hub.

A preparation plan for a GO 829 claim

Before the shipment

• Confirm MSME status, Udyam registration and both Bureau and UPEPC registrations.
• Make sure the goods are of Uttar Pradesh origin and your documents show it.
• Ask your forwarder to show air freight and cargo handling clearly on the invoice.

After the flight

• Collect the shipping bill with LEO, airway bill, packing list, invoice and freight receipts.
• Note the earliest of the shipping bill, shipment and airway bill dates and diarise day 150.
• Track the bank realisation certificate, because it is a listed document.

Before day 150

• Do both sums for each shipment: 30 percent of freight and Rs 150 times kg.
• Get the CA certificate in the prescribed format and sign the Rs 10 affidavit.
• File online and use the 15 day window to check every figure.

GO 828, GO 829 and GO 830 side by side

Many UP exporters use more than one of these orders in the same year. They look alike, but the base, the cap, the clock and the route are all different.

If a buyer pays on credit, a single sea order can touch two of these at once: GO 828 for the container to the port and GO 830 for the ECGC premium on the receivable. They are different costs, so one does not bar the other. The same freight bill can never go into both GO 828 and GO 829.

Reading your air freight invoices for a GO 829 claim

Most claim problems under GO 829 start with the freight paperwork, not the order. Air cargo is often billed through a forwarder, and the invoice you receive can mix many lines. Before you put a figure into the claim, sort the bill into three groups.

• Air freight. The charge for carrying the cargo by air. This is the core of the 30 percent base.
• Cargo handling. Charges at the air cargo complex for handling your cargo. Paragraph 3 says these are included in the base.
• Everything else. Customs broker fees, documentation fees, insurance, packing, inland trucking to the airport and similar lines. The order does not name these. Leave them out unless the Bureau tells you otherwise.

Then make sure the figure you claim is the same on three papers: the total cost of air cargo in the claim form, the amount in the CA certificate and the receipts you upload. If they differ, the claim will come back.

Consolidated shipments

Small exporters often ship under a forwarder’s consolidation, where one master airway bill covers many exporters and each one gets a house airway bill. The GO 829 form asks for the airway bill number and date and the weight of your products. Use your own house airway bill and your own weight, and keep the forwarder’s invoice that shows your share of the freight. The order does not deal with consolidations in words, so this is listed below as a point to confirm.

How GO 829 works for different products

Paragraph 2 names three groups of goods. The rule is the same for all three, but the arithmetic plays out differently.

Perishables

Fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and other perishables produced in Uttar Pradesh usually move in large weights at a moderate rate per kg. For these, 30 percent of the freight is usually below Rs 150 per kg, so the 30 percent decides the grant. A heavy season can reach the Rs 10 lakh year cap quickly. Plan the season so the cap is used on the shipments where the freight is highest.

Agricultural and horticultural products

Processed and semi processed farm goods, spices and similar products sit in between. Do both sums on every airway bill. A shipment of a few hundred kg can fall on either side of the line depending on the destination and the season’s rates.

Industrial products

Leather goods, garments, handicrafts, engineering parts and samples often fly in small weights at a high rate per kg. For these, Rs 150 per kg usually decides the grant, because 30 percent of an expensive small shipment is often more than Rs 150 times its weight.

A year plan for a regular air exporter

If you fly cargo every month, treat GO 829 as a monthly routine rather than a once a year claim.

Grouping several shipments into one claim is allowed by the form, which has one row per shipment. The 180 days still run separately for each shipment, so the oldest shipment in the batch decides your filing date.

A worked mango season under GO 829

A Lucknow based mango exporter flies four consignments to the United Kingdom in the 2026 season, all from Delhi. The goods are Uttar Pradesh mangoes, so the Delhi airport does not matter. The figures below are an illustration, not a client.

The season’s total is Rs 4,47,000, well inside the Rs 10 lakh cap. If the exporter files all four shipments in one claim, the oldest one, dispatched on 15 May, sets the deadline of 11 November 2026. Filing in August or September, once the bank realisation certificates arrive, leaves a safe margin.

Notice that in every row the 30 percent figure was the lower one. For heavy, lower rate cargo such as fruit, the Rs 150 per kg limit rarely bites. A unit that only ever looks at the per kg figure will overstate its claim and get it cut.

What the committee is likely to check

The order gives the Authorised Committee the power to decide which records must be uploaded. Based on the form and the documents list, these are the links between papers that a careful reviewer will test:

• The shipping bill number and date on the form match the customs verified copy with LEO.
• The airway bill number, date and weight match the airway bill copy.
• The HSN codes match the invoice and packing list, and the goods fit one of the three groups in paragraph 2.
• The freight figure matches the CA certificate and the transport receipts.
• The bank realisation certificate covers the invoices in the claim.
• The registration numbers match the Udyam, Bureau and UPEPC certificates.

None of these checks is unusual. Getting them right before you file is what keeps a claim out of the 15 day revert cycle.

Not yet confirmed

These points are not settled by the text of GO 829. We are asking the Export Promotion Bureau and will update this page when we have a written answer.

• Whether the Rs 150 per kg uses gross weight, net weight or chargeable weight.
• Which document date the portal treats as the date of dispatch: the shipping bill, the date of shipment or the airway bill.
• Whether GST on freight and handling is part of the 30 percent base.
• Whether courier shipments under CSB V count as air cargo under this order.
• How consolidated shipments under one master airway bill are to be shown.
• Whether shipments made before 6 November 2025 can be claimed.
• The web address of the claim portal, which the order does not print.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the UP air freight subsidy?

30 percent of the air freight, including cargo handling costs, or Rs 150 per kg, whichever is less. The total for one unit cannot exceed Rs 10 lakh in a financial year. This is under Government Order No. 829/18-4-2025.

Is the Rs 150 per kg a flat payment?

No. It is a ceiling. If 30 percent of your air freight is lower than Rs 150 times the weight, you get the 30 percent figure. You never get the higher of the two.

Can I fly my goods from Delhi airport and still claim?

Yes. Paragraph 1 allows export through any air cargo complex in the country, provided the state of origin of the products is Uttar Pradesh.

Which products are covered by the UP air freight scheme?

Paragraph 2 covers perishable goods produced in the state, agricultural and horticultural products and industrial products exported by air.

What is the last date to file a GO 829 claim?

Within 180 days of the date of dispatch to the foreign buyer. Count from the earliest of the shipping bill, shipment and airway bill dates and file well before day 180.

Is a merchant exporter eligible for the air freight subsidy?

Yes. GO 829 names manufacturing or merchant MSME units in its eligibility paragraph. The unit must be an MSME of Uttar Pradesh with Bureau and UPEPC registration.

Do I need Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC registration?

Yes. Paragraph 9 requires both at the time of the work. The claim form has EPBUP, UPEPC and Udyam lines, and a copy of the EPB and EPC registration is a listed document.

What does the chartered accountant certify?

That the unit exported a stated weight of a stated product by air, between stated dates, from a named air cargo complex to a named country, and the amount spent on air freight. It is signed with seal and registration number.

Which weight should I use for Rs 150 per kg?

The form has one column, weight of exported products in kg. The order does not say gross or net. Use the weight your airway bill and CA certificate support and keep it the same on every paper.

Are cargo handling charges included?

Yes. Paragraph 3 says the air freight includes other expenditure related to cargo handling. The value of the goods is never part of the base.

Who checks my GO 829 claim first?

The Deputy Commissioner Industries at your District Industries Promotion and Entrepreneurship Development Centre. They have 21 days to examine the claim and forward it to the Export Promotion Bureau.

What happens if my air freight claim is reverted?

The gaps are entered online and the claim comes back to you. You have 15 days to fix them and refile, or the claim is treated as rejected. A refiled claim is examined again within 21 days.

Is the bank realisation certificate required?

Yes. A copy of the bank realisation certificate is one of the eight supporting documents listed in the GO 829 claim form.

Can I claim air freight on samples under GO 829?

The order covers goods exported by air to a foreign buyer. Samples also have a separate head under GO 811. Claim any one cost under one order only, because both orders bar a second benefit for the same purpose.

When will the money reach my account?

GO 829 does not give a date. Approved claims are paid first come, first served by Direct Benefit Transfer within the year’s budget, with priority for units that joined Bureau or Council fairs.

How Rasp International helps with GO 829 claims

Rasp International is an ISO 9001:2015 certified EXIM and DGFT consultancy based in Agra, with a family legacy in international trade since 2005 and more than 500 exporters served. For GO 829 we check eligibility and UP origin, work out the lower of 30 percent and Rs 150 per kg for each airway bill, line up the CA certificate and the eight supporting documents and file within the 180 day window.

The order leaves approval and payment to the Authorised Committee, so we do not promise either. We make sure the claim is complete and filed early.

Flown cargo out in the last 180 days? Message Rasp International on WhatsApp and we will check which airway bills can still be claimed.

Sources

• Government Order No. 829/18-4-2025 dated 6 November 2025, Air Freight Rationalisation Scheme, paragraphs 1 to 12, Annexure 1 claim form with supporting documents list, Annexure 2 affidavit format and chartered accountant certificate format.
• Government Order No. 684/18-4-2025/18-4099/31/2025 dated 3 September 2025, UP Export Promotion Policy 2025-30, paragraph 8.2.
• Government Order No. 811/18-4-2025 dated 6 November 2025, marketing development assistance, for the free trade sample head.
• The orders are in Hindi. Official copies: upepc.org.

This is general guidance. Rules change. Verify against the current order or the current portal screen before you file or pay.

Related: UP export subsidy schemes 2025-30 | UP gateway port freight subsidy | Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC registration | UP ECGC premium reimbursement