What are the Different Ways to Receive International Payments in India?

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If you are an Indian freelancer, an entrepreneur, or an agency conducting business with clients or customers abroad, you may often find yourself facing the challenge of receiving international payments in India.

With the growth of the global economy and the rise of remote work, international transactions have become increasingly common. Therefore, it is important to understand the best ways to receive international payments in India.

However, navigating the complex landscape of cross-border payments or export payments can be daunting, especially with the various regulations and procedures in place.

Whether you are new to international payments or looking to optimise your existing approach, it is important to compare all the payment platforms before making the final choice.

If you are planning to receive USD payments or maybe EUR, GBP, AUD, etc., make sure to identify the right platform that is more compatible with your needs.

Here’s a table to give you a glance at some of the major ways to accept foreign payments in India.

Platform	Method	Transaction Fees	Forex Markup (Conversion Fee)	Speed
Swift Transfer	Wire Transfers over the SWIFT network	Depending on the bank, a $10-$50 fee	Determined by the bank. Usually 3% + GST	Can take up to 5+ business days.
PayPal	From the sender’s PayPal wallet to the receiver’s PayPal wallet	4.4%	3-4%	Can take up to 5 days.
Payoneer	Bank Transfer to the receiver’s foreign virtual account. Also has a card payment gateway	0 for bank transfers. 3% for cards.	~3%	Close to 2 business days.
PingPongX	Bank Transfer to the receiver’s foreign virtual account	1% fee for withdrawal	0% (mid-market exchange rate used)	Takes up to 3 business days
Stripe	Card Payment Gateway	4.3% + GST	2%	It is paid through a rolling method
Wise	Payment Platform	~1%	0% (mid-market exchange rate used)	Within a few hours
Razorpay	Card Payment Gateway	3% platform fees + GST	~1%	It can take upto 7+ days
Salt Pe	Bank Transfer to the receiver’s foreign virtual account	1.75% of the transaction	0% (mid-market exchange rate used)	Close to 2 business days
Refrens	Bank Transfer to the receiver’s foreign virtual account. Also has a card payment gateway	Between 1.5% to 4% depending on the mode of payment	~1%	Close to 2 business days
Mulya	Bank Transfer to the receiver’s foreign virtual account	1% flat charge	0% (mid-market exchange rate used)	Close to 2 business days

Now, let’s explore each of the platforms in detail to know more about them:

Swift Transfer:

Wire transfers, the traditional method of sending money to a different country, are completed through banks. It is a surefire and secure way to receive money in India, without using a payments platform or wallet.

Time taken and fees charged - SWIFT is a network of banks. Now, depending on the banks involved in the transaction, the time taken and the fees vary. It can take 5+ days for wire transfers to be processed.

Talking about the fees, the first fee charged is the fixed fee for using the SWIFT network, ranging from $10-$50, irrespective of the amount being transferred. Additionally, after you receive the foreign currency in your Indian bank, your bank does the conversion for a forex markup of ~ 3% + GST.

The drawback of wire transfers is that they may cost more in terms of fees and take longer than other alternatives. Hence, it is certainly not one of the best ways to receive international payments in India.

Click here to read more about how SWIFT/Wire transfers work.

PayPal:

PayPal is a well-known method to receive international payments for freelancers and businesses. Although, please note that PayPal is the most expensive way for such a transaction because of its transaction and conversion fees (going up to 7%).

You need to set up a business account on PayPal to accept merchant payments. Make sure to not use a PayPal individual account for business payments to avoid getting banned.

To make the payment, the sender transfers the money (eg. dollars) from their PayPal wallet to your PayPal wallet. After that, dollars (or any other currency) are automatically converted to INR and sent to your connected Indian Bank Account in 2-3 days.

Click here to read more about PayPal transfers.

Payoneer:

Digital marketplaces and freelancing platforms employ Payoneer to pay international vendors and independent contractors.

To receive local bank transfers from businesses and marketplaces in the US, UK, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia, and Mexico straight to your Payoneer account, Payoneer provides receiving virtual accounts in multiple currencies.

You need to just create a Payoneer account and get your local receiving accounts. Then, give the details of your receiving accounts to your clients. Accordingly, clients will make payments to your receiving accounts using local bank transfers (for example - ACH transfer for USD). Finally, payouts will be made to your Indian bank account.

Receiving money in virtual accounts is free. However, Payoneer charges a conversion markup when settling the money to INR.

Click here to read more about using Payoneer for export payments.

PingPong:

PingPong is an international payments platform which provides you with virtual foreign accounts.

To get started on Pingpong, first, make sure to register for a free PingPong account. Then, you can utilise PingPong receiving accounts to obtain money from different clients and platforms. Once the money is sent to you in your PingPong account, it will get withdrawn into your Indian bank account in INR.

When the money is transferred from your PingPong account to an Indian bank account, PingPong charges a flat cost of 1%.

Although PingPong has not specified any transfer restrictions, the marketplace from which you are transferring money may have such restrictions. There are different limits on PingPong as to how much you may send from your account at once on websites like Amazon, Wish, and Upwork.

Click here to read more about using PingPong virtual accounts for export payments.

Stripe:

Although Stripe's platform is built on solid technology and has expanded to India, it only allows registered businesses to accept international transactions. You cannot accept international payments as an independent contractor, or a freelancer.

It requires you to have the import/export code (IEC).

The best part of using Stripe is that clients from all over the world trust the platform, and supports close to 135 currencies.

There is a 4.3% processing cost for cards used outside of India in addition to a 2% conversion fee for overseas transactions.

Click here to get more details on how Stripe works in India.

Wise (Prev. Transferwise):

Wise employs cutting-edge technology to send money to India and other countries, but your client must first create an account. It makes direct transfers to your Indian bank account. You won't have to register to become a receiver.

Sometimes, transfers can reach bank accounts in a matter of seconds while sometimes it can take longer than that.

It charges some transfer fees but converts the money at a mid-market rate. You'll probably get more money in each transfer since Wise uses the true exchange rate i.e. the Google rate, which implies no markups.

Razorpay:

If you are a registered small business, Razorpay can be the right platform to accept international payments through cards.

All significant foreign banks' credit cards are accepted through Razorpay, and payments are settled in Indian rupees in the merchant account.

Razorpay's banking partners set the exchange rate for the payment (around 1%), which is sometimes expensive for you as the merchant. Moreover, it charges a 3% platform fee plus taxes.

International payments take about 7 days for the payment to get settled in your Indian bank account.

Razorpay is a good alternative to Stripe if your international clients want to pay you using a credit or debit card, as it charges less fees.

See how you can use Razorpay.

Salt Pe:

Salt.Pe offers a transparent and unambiguous approach to receiving international payments in India. Salt.Pe provides foreign local accounts to receive payments from abroad. At the first stage in the process, complete your KYC or KYB to get a local account to receive international payments. Your clients or customers can pay money to your local Salt.Pe account using local transfers. Finally, you can get the money transferred to your Indian bank account in 24 hours.

The platform costs just 1.75% of each transaction and there is no enrollment fee. There are no additional fees or subscriptions. Furthermore, Salt.Pe doesn't charge any markup fees for conversion; rather, it uses the rate that Google offers for converting USD to INR.

Refrens:

Refrens allows you to accept international payments by ACH, wire transfer, and credit/debit cards, in more than 100 different currencies. Your bank account will be credited with these payments in Indian Rupees.

You can set up an account on Refrens by signing up via Google or email. Then, you need to complete your KYC as well. There is no cost for setting up an account. Once done, you are free to use Refrens to accept international payments in India.

Refrens takes around T+2 days to complete the transaction. The actual fee is 1.5% for ACH or wire transfers or 4% for debit and credit cards, taxes included. Additionally, all foreign transactions through Refrens don't come at the accurate Google rate i.e. the mid-market exchange rate.

Mulya Finance

Mulya is one of the best options to start accepting foreign payments in India. It is compatible with more than 34 currencies and one of the best parts about Mulya Finance is that it has 0 hidden charges.

After KYC, Mulya provides you with your very own virtual foreign accounts. You can share these accounts with your clients to get paid. Clients just need to go to their banking app and do an online local transfer to your virtual account, and that’s it.

Also, since these are local transfers (ex. ACH in the US), it’s completely free.

Then, with the help of the forex partner, the money will be converted to INR and transferred to your Indian bank account via NEFT. Within 24 hours, your FIRC will be available.

Mulya charges a flat 1% fee while settlement, and does the conversion at mid-market rate/Google rate. So, there’s no additional forex fee.

It doesn't even block your funds randomly like PayPal.

You get 24*7 customer support as well.

One of the best parts about Mulya is that it maintains complete transparency throughout the process with payment tracking features. Starting from the fees to the time of deposit, every important information is available to you.

Mulya is the best choice for getting payment from a foreign customer for freelancers and agencies. Therefore, any business-big or small, and individual can effortlessly accept international cross-border payments using Mulya’s services. Click here to know more about how to get started on Mulya.

Conclusion

If you are wondering which is the best method for accepting international payments in India, you should consider a few factors.

It's critical to ensure that you have taken into account all associated costs because they might mount up rapidly. Transfer costs, currency conversion fees, and GST may apply to overseas payments on some platforms. To ensure that you minimise your expenses and maximise your earnings, carefully read the terms and conditions of each site.

Mulya is one such platform that maintains complete transparency and helps you with foreign payments for the lowest fee in the market - 1% flat.