UP Freight Subsidy to Gateway Port (GO 828): Rates, Caps and Claim Steps

Verified as on 4 October 2026 against Government Order No. 828/18-4-2025 dated 6 November 2025 and its annexures. Written by Pratham Agarwal, Founder, Rasp International.

UP freight subsidy to the gateway port: the short answer

Under Government Order No. 828/18-4-2025 dated 6 November 2025, a Micro, Small or Medium Enterprise (MSME) exporter of Uttar Pradesh can get back Rs 20,000 per 20 foot container or Rs 40,000 per 40 foot container, or 30 percent of the total freight spent on moving the goods to the gateway port, whichever is less. The cap is Rs 30 lakh per unit per financial year. The claim must be filed online within 180 days of the shipment date. Payment is subject to approval and budget.

The rule that decides everything: the 180 days run from the shipment date, and both your Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC registrations must already exist when the goods move.

Key facts table: UP gateway port freight subsidy

What GO 828 is and why it exists

Uttar Pradesh has no coastline. Every container that leaves a factory in Agra, Kanpur, Moradabad or Bhadohi has to travel hundreds of kilometres by road or rail before it reaches a sea port. The order opens by saying exactly this: because Uttar Pradesh is a landlocked state, its exporters carry a higher freight cost to the ports than exporters in coastal states, and that holds back exports even where the state has strong traditional production skills.

The state has paid a freight grant to the gateway port since Government Order No. 668/18-4-2008-10 (Budget)/2007 dated 6 February 2008. Under the Export Policy 2020-25 it ran through Government Order No. 298/18-4-2022-10 (Budget)/07 dated 13 May 2022. GO 828 cancels all those earlier orders, moves the claim fully online and resets the scheme under the UP Export Promotion Policy 2025-30. The order takes effect immediately.

So this is not a new idea with untested rules. It is an old scheme with a new claim process. What changed in November 2025 is the online route, the district check and the deadlines described below.

Who can claim the gateway port freight subsidy

Paragraph 10 of GO 828 limits the scheme to MSME 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. Paragraph 1 speaks of “all industrial units of the micro, small and medium enterprise category”. A unit outside the MSME definition is outside the scheme. The affidavit asks you to confirm that the unit is in the MSME category.
• Merchant or manufacturer. The application form asks for the type of exporting unit, merchant or manufacturer. Both can fill it.
• Both registrations. The application form has a Registration Number block with three lines: EPBUP, UPEPC and Udyam. The affidavit repeats the paragraph 10 condition and describes it as registration at the time of applying. Hold both registrations before the shipment and keep them valid until payment. Our guide to Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC registration sets out the clause in every UP order.
• A real export. The form asks for the shipping bill, the LEO date, the bill of lading, the 8 digit HSN code of the goods and the destination country.

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 relevant time.
• A unit that has already taken a full or partial benefit of the same nature from any other central or state scheme run for the same purpose. Paragraph 8 bars it and the affidavit asks you to declare it.
• A claim filed more than 180 days after the shipment date.
• Air shipments. Air freight has its own order, GO 829, with a different rate and its own form.

How much you get: the rate and the caps

Paragraph 1 of GO 828 sets the grant for freight from the production site to the gateway port when the goods move through an inland container depot (ICD), a container freight station (CFS), by truck, or partly by truck and the rest through an ICD. The grant is:

• Rs 20,000 for a 20 foot container, or
• Rs 40,000 for a 40 foot container, or
• 30 percent of the total expenditure on the freight of the goods,

whichever is less. Over a financial year a single exporter unit can receive at most Rs 30.00 lakh under the scheme.

Rate and cap table

What “freight” means in the claim tables

The rate paragraph says 30 percent of the total expenditure on freight. The claim tables then split freight into parts. For a full container shipment the table asks for four freight figures:

• Factory to ICD
• ICD to gateway port by rail
• Factory to gateway port by road
• Basic freight amount, which is the sum of the three columns above

It then asks separately for the total cost including all charges. The chartered accountant certificate also has two columns: freight amount without GST and total amount of the freight bill.

The order does not say in words which column the 30 percent is applied to. Our reading is that the safest figure is the basic freight without GST, because that is the transport cost to the port and it is the narrowest figure the forms ask for. If you claim on the total including all charges, be ready to explain each charge. We list this point under Not yet confirmed.

Less than container load (LCL) shipments

Paragraph 2 of GO 828 adds a separate benefit for small exporters. Units whose average annual export value over the last 3 years is Rs 5 crore or less can get financial assistance for less than container load shipments sent to the gateway port through an ICD or a CFS.

The LCL table in the annexure asks for the ICD or CFS, the destination country, the exporter invoice, container size and number, shipment date, shipping bill and bill of lading. For the freight it asks for three things: the number of cubic metres (CBM) for which the subsidy is claimed, the cost per CBM and the total cost.

The order does not print a separate rate or rupee cap for LCL. It also does not say whether the Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000 container limits apply in proportion to the cubic metres. Two points are certain: the Rs 5 crore three year average test applies, and the route must be through an ICD or CFS. Keep the CBM and per CBM cost exactly as on the consolidator’s bill. The rest is under Not yet confirmed.

What counts as a gateway port

Paragraph 3 says the gateway port includes sea ports and also the dry ports through which trucks or containers carrying Uttar Pradesh exports to neighbouring countries pass or are sent. That matters for exporters in the eastern districts who ship to Nepal or Bangladesh by road through a land port. Their freight to that dry port can be claimed in the same way, subject to the same caps.

Worked examples in rupees

These are illustrations of the GO 828 rule, not client figures and not a promise of payment. Each one uses basic freight as the 30 percent base, for the reason given above.

Worked example table

Read each row in the same order. First take 30 percent of the freight. Then compare it with the container limit. The grant is the smaller figure. A higher freight bill does not lift the container limit, and a cheap freight bill is not topped up to it.

Worked example of the Rs 30 lakh year cap

A Kanpur leather exporter ships 90 forty foot containers in a financial year, each with a grant of Rs 40,000 after the container limit. Ninety times Rs 40,000 is Rs 36 lakh. The year cap stops the unit at Rs 30 lakh. The extra Rs 6 lakh is not carried into the next year by the order. This is an illustration, not a client.

A smaller exporter with 20 containers a year at Rs 20,000 each reaches only Rs 4 lakh. For most MSME units the container limit, not the year cap, is what decides the amount.

The 180 day claim window

Paragraph 5(1) of GO 828 says that after the consignment is sent to the foreign buyer, the exporter unit must file its claim online on the department’s portal within a maximum of 180 days from the shipment date. Claims filed after that period will not be accepted.

The phrase in the order is the shipment date. The application asks for the shipping bill date, the LEO date and the bill of lading date, and the container table has its own shipment date column. The order does not say which of those the portal will treat as the shipment date. Count your 180 days from the earliest of them. That way a difference of a few days between the shipping bill and the bill of lading can never push you out.

Deadline examples table

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

How a GO 828 claim moves after you file

GO 828 uses the district route. The Deputy Commissioner Industries at the District Industries Promotion and Entrepreneurship Development Centre checks the claim before it reaches the Bureau in Lucknow. These are the steps exactly as paragraph 5 sets them out.

1. Online filing. You file on the portal within 180 days of the shipment date and upload copies of all the required records with the claim.
2. 15 days to correct yourself. For 15 days from the application date you can correct mistakes in the form yourself.
3. District check, 21 days. After those 15 days the claim appears on the portal of the district centre. The Deputy Commissioner Industries must examine it within 21 days of it appearing and forward complete claims to the Export Promotion Bureau, Lucknow with a recommendation.
4. Incomplete claims. If the claim is incomplete, the Deputy Commissioner records the gaps on the portal. You must upload the missing records within 15 days, or the claim lapses on its own. Once you complete it, the Deputy Commissioner examines it again within 21 days and forwards it.
5. Automatic forwarding. If the Deputy Commissioner neither forwards nor reverts the claim within the 21 days, it goes to the Bureau automatically, and the Bureau fixes responsibility on the officer concerned.
6. Ineligible claims. Claims that do not fall within the scheme are forwarded to the Bureau with the reasons and a recommendation to reject.
7. Bureau, 15 days. The Bureau receives a claim with a clear recommendation online within 15 days, and it then goes on the agenda of the Authorised Committee.
8. Committee and payment. The committee approves claims first come, first served. Money goes by Direct Benefit Transfer to the exporter’s bank account, within the budget for the year. The committee decides whether leftover claims move to the next financial year.

Claim clock table

The order sets no deadline for the committee meeting or for the bank credit. Any page that promises a payment date is going beyond GO 828.

Who decides your claim: the Authorised Committee

Paragraph 6 gives the Authorised Committee the power to accept claims, to decide which records must be uploaded and to change that list. It has eight members.

GO 828 is the only one of the UP freight and insurance orders with a Container Corporation of India member and a GST member on the committee. Expect your container numbers, rail legs and freight invoices to be read by people who know what a normal ICD to port rate looks like.

Documents GO 828 asks for

The annexures to GO 828 set out four papers besides your uploads of supporting records.

Annexure 1: the application form

• Name of the exporting unit and its type, merchant or manufacturer
• IEC number
• Registration numbers: EPBUP, UPEPC and Udyam
• Date of online application
• Shipping bill number and date, LEO date, bill of lading number and date
• Goods exported with the 8 digit HSN code
• Mode of shipment to the gateway port: road, ICD or both

The shipment tables

Table (i) is for full container load shipments through an ICD. Its columns are the importing unit, commodity, ICD or CFS, destination country, exporter invoice number and date, container size, container number, shipment date, shipping bill, bill of lading, then the freight columns: factory to ICD, ICD to gateway port by rail, factory to gateway port by road, basic freight amount and total cost including all charges.

Table (ii) is for LCL shipments through an ICD. It has the same shipment columns, then the number of CBMs claimed, the cost per CBM and the total cost.

Affidavit on Rs 10 stamp paper

Addressed to the Deputy Commissioner Industries of your district, the affidavit says four things:

1. The unit is covered by paragraph 10 of GO 828, that is, an MSME unit registered with the Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC.
2. The unit has not taken a benefit under any other scheme for the claims submitted.
3. The unit is in the MSME category.
4. The information given is true, complete and correct and nothing material has been hidden.

Annexure III: verification report from the ICD or CFS

The ICD or CFS certifies that the information in the exporter’s claim form has been checked against its records and found correct. It is signed by the authorised signatory, with the name and full address of the ICD or CFS. If your container moved through an ICD, plan for this report early. Depot offices are busy, and the report has to reach your claim inside the filing and correction windows.

Chartered accountant certificate

Headed “To whomsoever it may concern”, it certifies the total expenses incurred towards freight paid to the transporter or CONCOR for the export shipment. Its table has one row per container with these columns: container number, invoice number and date, invoice amount, shipping bill number and date, BL or FCR number, BRC amount, freight amount without GST and total amount of the freight bill. It carries place, date, UDIN, CA firm name, ICAI firm registration number, CA name and partner membership number.

Notice the BRC amount column. The CA will want to see the bank realisation for each invoice. If export proceeds have not been realised, the certificate will be hard to sign within your 180 days.

Document checklist table

Where GO 828 claims go wrong

Payment priority and the budget

Paragraph 9 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 7 makes payment first come, first served and limits it to the budget available in the financial year. Together they mean two things for you. File early in the year, before the budget is used up. And if you take part in Bureau or Council fairs, keep the proof, because it can move your claim up the queue.

How GO 828 fits with other freight support

GO 828 covers inland freight to the port by road or rail. It does not cover sea freight from the port to the buyer. Air shipments fall under GO 829, the air freight rationalisation scheme, which pays the lower of 30 percent of air freight and Rs 150 per kg. If you ship by both sea and air, file each shipment under its own order and do not put the same freight bill into both.

Central schemes such as RoDTEP and duty drawback refund taxes and duties, not freight, so they are not “the same purpose” in the sense of paragraph 8. A central or state freight subsidy for the same container would be. When in doubt, declare it and ask the Bureau before you file. For the full set of UP orders, see our UP export subsidy schemes hub.

A preparation plan for a GO 828 claim

Before the shipment

• Confirm MSME status and a current Udyam registration.
• Confirm Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC registrations are in place.
• Ask your transporter or CONCOR to bill freight separately from handling and other charges, with GST shown separately.
• For LCL, check your three year average export value against Rs 5 crore.

Within 30 days of the shipment

• Collect the shipping bill, LEO, bill of lading and freight invoices for every container.
• Request the Annexure III verification report from the ICD or CFS.
• Note the earliest of the shipment dates and diarise day 150 as your internal deadline.

Before day 150

• Get the CA certificate with UDIN, once the export proceeds are realised.
• 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.

Splitting a mixed freight bill

Inland freight to a port is often billed as one invoice with many lines. Before your CA signs, sort the bill into the parts the GO 828 tables ask for.

• Road leg from the factory to the ICD. Goes in the factory to ICD column.
• Rail leg from the ICD to the port. Goes in the ICD to gateway port by rail column.
• Direct road haul to the port. Goes in the factory to gateway port by road column.
• Everything else. Terminal handling, documentation, seal charges, detention and similar lines. These belong only in the total cost including all charges column.

GST should be shown separately, because the CA certificate asks for freight without GST. Ask your transporter or CONCOR to bill in this shape from the start. Rebuilding a mixed bill months later, close to day 180, is where most errors come from.

Not yet confirmed

These points are not settled by the text of GO 828. We are asking the Export Promotion Bureau and will update this page when we have a written answer.

• Whether the 30 percent is applied to the basic freight amount or to the total cost including all charges.
• Which document date the portal treats as the shipment date: the shipping bill, the LEO or the bill of lading.
• The rate and rupee limit for LCL shipments under paragraph 2.
• Whether shipments made before 6 November 2025 can be claimed under GO 828.
• The web address of the claim portal, which the order does not print.
• Whether the Rs 30 lakh cap runs on the financial year of the shipment or of the claim.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the UP freight subsidy for a 20 foot container?

Rs 20,000 or 30 percent of the freight, whichever is less. If 30 percent of your freight to the gateway port is Rs 16,500, you get Rs 16,500. If it is Rs 25,500, you get Rs 20,000. This is under Government Order No. 828/18-4-2025.

How much is the UP freight subsidy for a 40 foot container?

Rs 40,000 or 30 percent of the freight, whichever is less. A freight bill of Rs 1,10,000 gives Rs 33,000. A bill of Rs 1,60,000 gives Rs 40,000.

What is the yearly limit under GO 828?

Rs 30 lakh per exporter unit in a financial year. The container limits apply to each container first, and the total across the year then stops at Rs 30 lakh.

What is the last date to file a GO 828 claim?

Within 180 days of the shipment date. The order does not say which document date counts, so count from the earliest of the shipping bill, LEO and bill of lading dates and file well before day 180.

Can I claim freight for LCL cargo under GO 828?

Yes, if your average annual export value over the last 3 years is Rs 5 crore or less and the cargo went through an ICD or CFS to the gateway port. The order does not print a separate LCL rate, so check the amount with the Bureau.

Does a direct truck from the factory to the port qualify?

Yes. Paragraph 1 covers goods sent by truck as well as through an ICD or CFS, and the container table has a column for factory to gateway port by road. The mode field on the form allows road, ICD or both.

Can I claim freight to a land port for Nepal or Bangladesh?

Yes. Paragraph 3 says the gateway port includes dry ports through which trucks or containers carrying exports to neighbouring countries pass or are sent.

Is a merchant exporter eligible for the gateway port subsidy?

The application form asks whether the unit is a merchant or a manufacturer, so both can apply. The unit must still be an MSME of Uttar Pradesh with Bureau and UPEPC registration.

Do I need UPEPC and Export Promotion Bureau registration?

Yes. Paragraph 10 requires both at the time of the work, and the application form has separate lines for the EPBUP, UPEPC and Udyam numbers. Register before you ship.

Who checks my GO 828 claim first?

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

What happens if my claim is incomplete?

The Deputy Commissioner records the gaps on the portal and returns it. You have 15 days to upload the missing records, or the claim lapses automatically. A corrected claim is examined again within 21 days.

What papers does the chartered accountant certify?

The total freight paid to the transporter or CONCOR, container by container, with invoice, shipping bill, BL or FCR, BRC amount, freight without GST and the total freight bill. The certificate needs a UDIN and the firm and membership numbers.

Why does GO 828 need an ICD or CFS report?

Annexure III is a verification report in which the ICD or CFS confirms that the details in your claim match its records. It is how the committee checks container movements it cannot see on your invoices alone.

Can I claim the same freight under another scheme?

No. Paragraph 8 allows the grant only if the unit has not taken a full or partial benefit of the same nature from any other central or state scheme for the same purpose. The affidavit asks you to declare this.

When will the money reach my account?

GO 828 does not give a date. Approved claims are paid first come, first served by Direct Benefit Transfer within the year’s budget. Units that took part in Bureau or Council fairs get priority.

How Rasp International helps with GO 828 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 828 we check eligibility and registrations, work out the lower of 30 percent and the container limit for each container, line up the ICD or CFS report and the CA certificate, and file within the 180 day window.

The order leaves approval and payment to the Authorised Committee, so we do not promise either. What we make sure of is that your claim is complete, consistent and early in the queue.

Shipped containers in the last 180 days? Message Rasp International on WhatsApp and we will check which ones can still be claimed.

Sources

• Government Order No. 828/18-4-2025 dated 6 November 2025, Gateway Port Freight Grant Scheme, paragraphs 1 to 13, Annexure 1 with shipment tables (i) and (ii), Rs 10 affidavit format, Annexure III verification report 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.
• Earlier orders cancelled by GO 828: Government Order No. 668/18-4-2008-10 (Budget)/2007 dated 6 February 2008 and Government Order No. 298/18-4-2022-10 (Budget)/07 dated 13 May 2022.
• 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 | Export Promotion Bureau and UPEPC registration | UP air freight subsidy | UP ECGC premium reimbursement