
Ask HN: How to receive payments from India for an international company? - danieltillett
Our B2B business has been getting a bit of traction in the Indian market of late (through no effort of mine), but it appears to be very hard for our Indian customers to actual pay us. We are based in Australia and have no Indian subsidiary. So far all I have found is wire transfers (which are a huge pain for smallish amount). It seems that almost all Indian credit cards can’t be used for international payments.<p>Has anyone else run into this problem and has anyone found any workable solution?
======
moh_maya
Your customers may need to speak with their banks if they haven't requested
activation of their cards for international transactions, since the
transactions may be flagged otherwise. This is a simple call; shouldn't take
them more than 5-8 min depending on the bank.

In addition, 2-factor authentication (2FA; Verified by VISA; Mastercard
Securecode) is mandatory for debit card based transactions. I don't think
that's the case for credit cards, but I wouldn't be surprised if, in either
case, banks decline to approve transactions from payment processors who don't
support 2FA --> so perhaps this is something you could check with your payment
processor?

paypal: Many banks in India don't allow transactions with Paypal (perhaps
because of concerns of paypal's compliance with Indian banking guidelines), so
Paypal is hit or miss.

~~~
danieltillett
This activation process is limited to a small number of cards only and I can’t
find out any information if company credit/debit cards can be activated or
just personal cards.

I surely can’t be the first business in history to run into this problem?

~~~
webtechgal
AFAIK, all credit cards should work directly - whether company or personal. So
far as debit cards are concerned, to the best of my knowledge, such cards are
issued to company/business accounts ONLY if the business is a sole proprietor
type. If there are multiple people operating a business account, no debit
cards are issued. Thus, a business account debit card is essentially the same
as that of a personal account.

HTH

------
vram22
You can try asking State Bank of India and some of the large private sector
Indian banks like HDFC and ICICI Bank. Googling will easily get you their
sites and some links or emails via which to contact them.

I recently checked with my bank about paying vendors outside India via online
methods, but that was for personal use, like buying small consumer items, not
as a company. They did say it was possible. But if your clients in India are
companies, you will have to check - the rules (and available methods of
payment) are likely to be different for companies than for individuals.

------
webtechgal
Based on my first-hand experience:

1\. Credit cards issued by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and AXIX Bank work directly
for international payments (been using all 3 for over a decade now)

2\. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank Debit cards also work for international payments,
but not by default. The card holder has to call up the bank to activate
international payment facility - a quick and simple process.

Let me know if there is any other specific info that I can provide.

HTH.

~~~
danieltillett
Is this for business credit and debit cards? It is hard to find information
what regulation are on these cards and if they are treated differently to
personal cards.

~~~
webtechgal
The ones I've been using (as mentioned in my previous comment) are all
personal cards, both credit and debit. While I don't have any first-hand info
on business cards vis-a-vis international payments, I believe they should work
the same way as the personal ones.

~~~
danieltillett
It is amazingly hard to get any information from anyone on this topic. I find
it hard to believe that there are no other companies outside of India that
have ever had to solve this problem :(

~~~
mritun
First hand experience. Personal cards (incl corporate cards) both debit and
credit issued by ICICI and AMEX always worked internationally without a
problem.

My SBI corporate card needed to be "activated" before international travel. It
was NOT a Bank policy or Govt policy but something that the finance/accounts
dept instructs bank to do to reduce risk of fraud (its nonsense, but there it
is).

For all cards, it's between bank and customer. All AMEX and Most (all?)
Visa/MasterCard should work internationally.

~~~
danieltillett
I am glad to hear that corporate cards can also be activated. It looks like
the best option is far is provide customers with a guide on how to activate
their cards. Still pretty high friction, but at least it is a viable solution.

------
sharmi
Paypal should work. I routinely use Paypal to pay for international vendors. I
know this is not the preferred option, but they are well integrated with our
Indian banks. As far as I know, Stripe and other similar options don't work in
India.

I also remember using Amazon payments a couple of years back but that was to
pay an US provider not Australia, so your mileage may vary.

~~~
danieltillett
Are you sure PayPal works as we actually use PayPal as our payment processor
for small payments and the Indian customers told me the payment would not go
through? I have a feeling for it to work you have to have it linked to one of
the tiny number of Indian credit cards that allow international payments.

Edit. This quora link suggests it is a known problem [1] and this link goes
into more detail [2].

1\. [https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-make-international-
payments...](https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-make-international-payments-
when-most-of-Indian-bank-debit-cards-are-not-supported-by-Paypal)

2\. [https://www.isaumya.com/paypal-google-wallet-indian-debit-
ca...](https://www.isaumya.com/paypal-google-wallet-indian-debit-card-
support/)

~~~
sharmi
My bad, I do use the ICICI debit card but many nationalized banks dont support
paypal. If it is so important to you could integrate a payment gateway into
your app. Payment Gateways support all major banks. Here is a link to one.
There are several PGs available. I am not sure if all of them support
international merchants.

[https://www.payubiz.in/international-
merchant](https://www.payubiz.in/international-merchant)

~~~
danieltillett
Not a problem. From my investigations the Indian payment gateways can only
deal with Indian companies.

The RBI certainly hates us :(

~~~
sharmi
Hi Daniel, atleast the one I linked to above, support international merchants.
See if their plan suits you.

~~~
danieltillett
Sharmi for you and anyone else reading this thread payubiz can only deal with
Indian companies. Back to square one.

------
gesman
Can they pay in bitcoins?

Then you can convert them to cash at coinbase and alike exchanges right away.

~~~
danieltillett
I suppose in theory, but does anyone know of a reliable Indian bitcoin
exchange that is easy for Indian businesses to use?

Edit. A quick check suggests this is a very expensive way to go given the
price of bitcoins in India. Also to buy bitcoins in India you basically have
to set up a bank account and go through the whole KYC process. This does not
look like a low friction option for Indian companies.

~~~
sayelt
Localbitcoins should allow you to buy BTC other than with a bank account.

[https://localbitcoins.com/country/IN](https://localbitcoins.com/country/IN)

~~~
danieltillett
This is not really a low friction or cheap solution.

~~~
sayelt
Why not?

~~~
danieltillett
I answered it in the response to the OP. A wire transfer would be cheaper and
have lower friction.

~~~
sayelt
That's bullshit. Banks are the ones with the highest friction and fees.

~~~
danieltillett
The bitcoin spread is over 25% right now in India. That combined with the
paperwork requirement needed for a business to buy bitcoins does not make for
a low friction experience.

~~~
sayelt
What paperwork do you need as a business to buy bitcoin?

~~~
danieltillett
Thanks to the RBI you need to go through the full KYC process - basically the
same as setting up a business bank account. This in not low friction.

~~~
sayelt
With banks you always go through KYC/AML, this is nothing to do with bitcoin,
and everything to do with banks.

~~~
danieltillett
Well everything to do with the RBI regulations on bitcoin in India. The end
outcome is that bitcoin is not a viable option to solve the India payment
problem.

~~~
sayelt
If your legal system is fucked, that's not bitcoin's fault.

------
known
I use Paypal

~~~
danieltillett
Yes PayPal works if you have it linked to a credit/debit card that allows
international payments. The problem in only a small percentage of Indian cards
are able to be used to make international payments.

------
sayelt
Bitcoin.

