How to Accept International Payments in India (2026 Guide)
Accepting international payments is no longer optional for Indian businesses. SaaS companies, edtech platforms, travel brands, exporters, and digital service providers increasingly sell to customers outside India. But accepting international payments in India is not as simple as turning on a toggle.
Between RBI regulations, FEMA compliance, payment success rates, FX costs, settlement delays, and chargeback risk, many Indian merchants struggle to scale global revenue reliably.
This guide explains how to accept international payments in India, step by step:
What “international payments” actually mean in the Indian context
The payment methods available to Indian businesses
Regulatory and compliance requirements
Common failure points and hidden costs
How modern platforms like xPay simplify international payment acceptance
What are international payments in India?
An international payment is any transaction where:
The customer is located outside India, or
The issuing bank is outside India, or
The payment is made in a foreign currency
For Indian merchants, this usually means receiving money from:
International cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc)
Global wallets
Foreign bank accounts
Because money is entering India from abroad, these transactions fall under foreign exchange regulations and must comply with Indian banking rules.
Ways to accept international payments in India
Indian businesses typically accept international payments through four main methods.
1) International card payments
This is the most common method.
Customers pay using:
Credit cards
Debit cards
Corporate cards issued outside India
Card payments are authorized by the customer’s issuing bank, routed via card networks, and then settled into India.
Challenges
Higher decline rates on cross-border cards
Issuer risk flags
FX markups
Chargebacks and friendly fraud
2) International wallets and local payment methods
In some countries, cards are not the preferred method. Customers may use:
Wallets
Bank transfers
Local payment schemes
Supporting these methods can significantly improve conversion rates in certain geographies.
Challenge
Integration and compliance complexity increases rapidly as more methods are added.
3) Bank transfers and inward remittance
Businesses can also receive international payments via bank transfers.
This involves:
Foreign remittance into India
FX conversion
Bank-issued documentation such as FIRCs
This is common for B2B, exports, and services, but not ideal for consumer checkout experiences.
4) Payment links and invoices
Payment links allow merchants to:
Create a hosted payment page
Share it via email, WhatsApp, or SMS
Collect international payments without website integration
This is popular for:
Freelancers
International collections
One-time payments
Regulatory requirements to accept international payments in India
This is where many guides get vague. The rules matter.
FEMA and RBI compliance
All international payments into India are governed by the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and RBI guidelines.
Key requirements include:
Payments must be routed through authorized dealer (AD1) banks or permitted payment aggregators
Transactions must be reported correctly
The nature of the transaction must be identifiable
Purpose codes
Every international payment into India must be tagged with a purpose code that explains why the money is being received.
Examples include:
Export of services
Sale of goods
Software subscriptions
Professional services
Incorrect or missing purpose codes can result in:
Settlement delays
Bank queries
Compliance risk
FIRC (Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate)
A FIRC is proof that foreign money has entered India.
FIRCs are required for:
GST compliance
Accounting and audits
Regulatory reporting
Delays or missing FIRCs create significant operational overhead for finance teams.
Common problems Indian businesses face with international payments
Even after enabling international payments, many merchants face issues that directly impact revenue.
Low payment success rates
Cross-border transactions are riskier for issuing banks. This leads to:
Higher issuer declines
Failed payments despite valid cards
Lost conversions
Many Indian merchants see international success rates fall far below domestic levels.
Hidden costs and FX leakage
Headline processing fees rarely tell the full story.
Actual costs include:
FX spreads
Cross-border surcharges
Retry attempts
Operational reconciliation work
The effective cost of international payments can be significantly higher than expected.
Settlement delays and cash-flow strain
Some setups involve:
Long settlement cycles
Manual reconciliation
Delayed FIRCs
This affects working capital and financial predictability.
How modern platforms solve international payment acceptance
Over the last few years, global payment infrastructure has evolved.
Platforms like Stripe and Razorpay document the importance of:
Correct metadata
Optimized checkout flows
Local payment support
Strong authentication
However, Indian merchants still face a unique set of challenges around compliance, settlement, and success rates.
This is where xPay’s model is structurally different.
How xPay helps Indian businesses accept international payments
xPay is built specifically for Indian businesses selling globally.
Local acquiring instead of pure cross-border charging
xPay operates as a local collection agent, partnering with licensed local processors and banks in customer geographies.
This means:
Transactions appear more “local” to issuing banks
Issuer risk flags are reduced
Authorization success rates improve
This directly translates into higher international payment success rates.
Compliant settlement into India
After collection:
Funds are remitted into India via regulated AD1 banking channels or PA-CB providers
FEMA and RBI requirements are followed by design
GST-compliant FIRCs are issued instantly
Merchants do not need to chase banks or manually reconcile documentation.
Support for multiple payment use cases
xPay supports:
One-time international payments
Subscriptions and recurring billing
Payment links and invoices
Tokenised cards for compliant “charge at will” use cases
Credit Card EMI for international payments
This allows businesses to support global customers across different payment behaviors.
Most payment methods
xPay offers the following payment methods apart from Cards
BNPL methods liks Klarna, Afterpay, Credit Card EMI
Wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, Cashapp etc
Local Payment methods like Tabby, Alipay and many more!
Built-in risk and dispute controls
xPay includes:
Real-time risk evaluation
Adaptive fraud controls
Dispute and chargeback visibility
This reduces revenue leakage while preserving conversion rates.
Key stats that matter for international payments
Cross-border transactions have meaningfully higher decline rates than domestic payments if not optimized
Offering local payment options and flexible checkout flows can improve international conversion by 20–40% in high-ticket categories
Faster settlements and automated reconciliation significantly reduce operational overhead for finance teams
These improvements compound as volume scales.
How to get started accepting international payments in India
For Indian businesses planning to sell globally:
Identify your target countries and customer payment preferences
Choose a payment platform that understands Indian compliance, not just global cards
Ensure purpose codes and documentation are handled automatically
Optimize for payment success rates, not just coverage
Track settlements, FX, and reconciliation in one place
Conclusion
Accepting international payments in India is no longer just about enabling cards. It requires:
Regulatory compliance
High success rates
Predictable settlements
Low operational friction
Indian businesses that treat international payments as a core growth function, rather than a backend utility, scale faster and more predictably.
xPay is designed to make international payment acceptance simpler, compliant, and conversion-optimized for Indian businesses selling to the world.
