India is now one of the most exciting digital commerce markets in the world. Over the next few years, the country is expected to have more than 500 million online shoppers by 2030 and close to 1.3 billion internet users. E-commerce is already growing at a rapid pace, powered by affordable data, smartphones, and a consumer base that is digital-first.
At the same time, India has transformed how payments are made. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is one of the largest real-time payment systems globally, processing billions of transactions every month. It has become the default way to pay for over 300 million individuals and 50 million merchants across the country.
For international businesses, whether you’re in SaaS, travel, marketplaces, or retail, the message is clear: India is a market you cannot afford to ignore. But entering this market is not as simple as opening up another currency option.
The Barriers Global Merchants Face
While the growth story is clear, global businesses often face common challenges when trying to sell to Indian consumers:
- Low success rates with international PGs: Transactions routed through global gateways often have low success rates, leading to abandoned carts and lost revenue. Local acquiring dramatically improves reliability and conversion.
- Local payment preferences dominate: UPI, NetBanking, and RuPay cards account for a large majority of digital transactions in India. Merchants who only offer cards miss out on large parts of the market.
- Regulation requires compliance: Since 2023, the Reserve Bank of India has mandated that cross-border import transactions be processed through licensed Payment Aggregators–Cross Border (PA-CB). This means working with regulated partners is not optional but essential.
- Settlement delays strain cash flow: Traditional cross-border settlements can take five days or longer. For businesses that manage refunds, cancellations, or frequent billing, these delays impact working capital.
- Recurring and tokenized payments are now critical: Subscription-led businesses (SaaS, EdTech, media) rely on recurring billing and saved cards for faster payments. In India, card tokenization is mandatory and UPI AutoPay has become the preferred option for recurring payments. International gateways rarely support these natively, creating gaps for global companies trying to scale.
- Operational complexity grows quickly: Managing multiple payment methods, flows, banks, and reconciliation processes across borders adds cost and effort for finance and product teams.
Each of these challenges eats into growth, whether it’s lost conversions, longer time-to-market, or higher operational overhead.
India’s Digital Commerce Boom: Why Global Merchants Are Paying Attention
India is on track to become the second-largest e-commerce market globally by 2030. Consumers are digital-first, regulators have created clear pathways for cross-border payments through PA-CB, and real-time rails like UPI continue to scale.
For global merchants, this is more than an opportunity, it’s a test. Businesses that solve payments effectively can unlock scale and customer loyalty. Those who don’t, risk being shut out of one of the fastest-growing consumer markets in the world.
A Practical Blueprint for Entering India with Cross-Border Payments
Here’s what global businesses should prioritize when planning their India entry:
- Offer local-first payment methods: UPI and NetBanking should be treated as primary methods, with additonal support for local card networks like Rupay.
- Work with a regulated partner: Choose a PA-CB licensed aggregator to ensure compliance, settlement, and reporting are handled correctly.
- Focus on success rates: Optimize for local acquiring to ensure higher transaction success and better customer experience.
- Demand faster settlements: Shorter cycles (T+3 instead of T+5) improve cash flow and simplify reconciliation.
- Enable recurring and tokenized payments: Subscription businesses need compliant card tokenization and reliable subscription payments capabilities to scale. These are absolutely essential for SaaS, EdTech, and digital content players.
- Think about long-term operations: Beyond launch, finance and product teams need transparency, unified dashboards, and flexible integrations to manage scale.
PayU Cross-Border Payments: Built for Global Merchants Entering India
PayU’s Cross-Border Payments (licensed PA-CB, authorized by RBI) solution has been purpose-built to help international merchants succeed in India:
- No Indian entity required: Start selling with just your website. Skip the complexity of setting up locally.
- Support for local payment method:. Accept UPI, NetBanking, and domestic debit/credit cards (Rupay) to maximize conversions.
- Faster global settlements: Receive payouts in your offshore bank account in just T+3 days, in currencies like USD, GBP, EUR, SGD, CAD, AUD, and more.
- Higher success rates: With local acquiring and optimized routing, PayU ensures smoother checkouts and better success rates than international gateways.
- Single view dashboard: Manage transactions, forex, settlements, refunds, and chargebacks in one place.
- Enterprise-ready integrations: Flexible APIs for seamless and non-seamless flows.
Beyond Payments: Tokenization, Recurring Billing, and Growth Enablers
And beyond the core PA-CB framework, PayU also offers value-added services like:
- Token Hub: a secure, interoperable tokenization platform that helps merchants meet India’s compliance rules while supporting smooth card-on-file experiences.
- Recurring Payments & UPI AutoPay: designed for SaaS, EdTech, and subscription businesses to handle repeat billing cycles, free trials, and upgrades.
- Offer Engine & additional solutions: to create localized promotions, cashbacks, and EMI options that drive growth.
These capabilities go beyond the basics of cross-border acceptance, giving global businesses everything they need to enter India and scale sustainably.
The Bottom Line: Winning India Requires Getting Cross-Border Payments Right
India’s digital economy is growing at record speed. But for global businesses, success here depends on localizing payments, improving success rates, and planning for long-term services like tokenization and recurring billing.
PayU Cross-Border Payments makes this possible. With regulated PACB capabilities, faster settlements, and advanced add-ons like Token Hub and UPI AutoPay, PayU enables international businesses to unlock India’s billion-strong consumer base- faster, safer, and smarter.
Ready to expand into India? Talk to us today.
