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Stripe Alternative for Indian SaaS Businesses Accepting Global Payments: Best Options in 2026

Introduction

A Bengaluru-based B2B SaaS company had been processing international subscription payments through Stripe for three years. At $12,000 monthly recurring revenue, they noticed two things: the effective all-in cost on each payment was approaching 6.3% once card fees, currency conversion, and failed payment losses were combined, and their FIRC documentation required a manual bank request for every inward remittance. Their accountant was spending four hours per month reconciling foreign income for GST export reports. In September 2025, they received a notice from Stripe that their India account access would require re-verification under Stripe's invite-only model. They started evaluating alternatives.

Stripe is the default payment infrastructure for SaaS globally. But for Indian-entity companies, Stripe India is not the same product as Stripe US or Stripe UK. The limitations are significant, the cost is higher than its reputation suggests, and the compliance tooling for Indian regulatory requirements is minimal. This comparison evaluates the five strongest alternatives for Indian SaaS companies accepting global payments in 2026, ranked by total cost, subscription billing capability, and RBI compliance standing.

Key Takeaways Stripe India has been invite-only since May 2024, supports card payments only (no bank transfers), carries an all-in effective cost of approximately 6.3% for Indian cross-border sellers, and does not auto-generate FIRC or eFIRC for inward remittances. Razorpay International holds a full RBI PA-CB licence (December 2025, export and import), supports 135 currencies across 180+ countries, is the first Indian payment aggregator to offer Apple Pay for international customers (launched September 2025), and auto-generates eFIRC per transaction from an Indian-entity account. Paddle and Dodo Payments are Merchant of Record platforms that eliminate global tax compliance entirely. Paddle charges 5% plus $0.50 per transaction; Dodo charges 4% plus $0.40 as a base rate, with higher effective costs for international subscriptions. Both are most cost-effective for early-stage SaaS under $15,000-20,000 MRR, where the tax compliance savings outweigh the higher transaction fee. PayU International's cross-border product is primarily positioned for global merchants collecting payments from Indian customers, not for Indian SaaS companies billing international customers. Indian businesses billing global clients through PayU report effective costs of 4-6% with less pricing transparency than top-ranked alternatives. Traditional SWIFT wire transfer becomes relevant for Indian SaaS companies signing large annual enterprise contracts (typically $20,000 per contract or above), where the fixed sender fees are negligible relative to the transaction size. At $10,000 MRR, switching from Stripe India's 6.3% all-in cost to Razorpay International at 3% saves approximately Rs. 27,455 per month in platform fees alone, before accounting for FIRC automation and failed payment recovery.

Table of Contents

• Why Stripe India Is Not the Same as Stripe
•   Stripe Alternative Platforms at a Glance
• Top Stripe Alternative Platforms Ranked
• Subscription Billing Capability Comparison
• Involuntary Churn: Why Failed Payments Cost More Than the Platform Fee
• Best Platform by MRR Stage
• The Foreign Entity Question: When It Makes Sense to Use Stripe US
• Frequently Asked Questions

Why Stripe India Is Not the Same as Stripe

 

Most Indian SaaS founders assume that signing up for Stripe gives them access to the same product used by Shopify, Notion, and Figma. It does not.

Invite-only since May 2024. 

Stripe moved to an invite-only model for Indian accounts in May 2024. New businesses cannot sign up independently. Existing accounts require re-verification under updated documentation requirements.

Card payments only. 

Stripe India supports international card payments only. It does not support SWIFT bank transfers, ACH, SEPA, or local transfer methods. Clients who prefer bank transfers have no option within the Stripe India product.

No FIRC or eFIRC auto-generation. 

Every inward remittance received by an Indian exporter requires a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate for FEMA compliance and GST refund claims under zero-rated export rules. Stripe does not generate this. Indian businesses using Stripe must make separate FIRC requests to their authorised dealer bank for each payment received.

No domestic sales. 

Stripe India cannot process domestic INR transactions. A SaaS company that sells to both Indian and international customers must maintain two separate payment gateways.

No Apple Pay for international customers. 

Apple Pay is unavailable to customers of Indian-entity Stripe accounts. For US and UK customers on iPhones who expect one-tap Apple Pay checkout, Stripe India presents a standard card entry form.

Effective all-in cost of approximately 6.3%. 

Stripe India's cross-border pricing includes a transaction fee plus a currency conversion margin that brings the effective cost to approximately 6.3% for Indian businesses receiving international payments, based on publicly reported rates for Indian cross-border sellers.

The common workaround is to incorporate a US LLC or a Singapore private limited company and use Stripe US or Stripe Singapore. This solves the product limitation but creates FEMA ODI (Overseas Direct Investment) compliance obligations: Form FC before investment, Annual Performance Report (APR), FLA return to RBI, and the 400% net worth cap on overseas investment. For SaaS companies at early stages, this overhead is often disproportionate to the benefit.

Quote-ready: An Indian SaaS company on Stripe India paying the 6.3fective all-in rate on $10,000 MRR incurs approximately Rs. 53,550 in platform fees monthly. At Razorpay's 3% International Payment Gateway rate, the same revenue costs approximately Rs. 25,500. The Rs. 28,050 difference per month is the cost of staying on Stripe India at this MRR level.

 

  Stripe Alternative Platforms at a Glance

At $10,000 MRR (approximately Rs. 8,50,000 at Rs. 85 per USD mid-market). Estimates based on published or publicly reported rates.

Platform	Transaction Fee	FX Markup	Subscription Billing	Auto-FIRC	Monthly Cost on $10K MRR	RBI PA-CB
Razorpay International Gateway	3% + GST	Mid-market	Razorpay Subscriptions (add-on)	Yes, per transaction	~Rs. 25,500	Full (Dec 2025)
Paddle	5% + $0.50	2-3% on FX conversion	Included in MoR	N/A (MoR model)	~Rs. 42,500+	N/A (MoR)
Dodo Payments	4% + $0.40 base (intl: +1.5%, subs: +0.5%)	Embedded	Included in MoR	N/A (MoR model)	~Rs. 51,000 (intl. subs)	N/A (MoR)
PayU International	4-6% (estimated)	1.5-2.5% on top	UPI AutoPay (India-in only)	Via bank	~Rs. 42,500+	PA-CB (inbound India)
Traditional SWIFT	$25-50 fixed + bank FX	2-4%	None	Via own bank	Variable	N/A
Stripe India	~6.3% all-in	Embedded in rate	Via Stripe Billing (limited)	None	~Rs. 53,550	In-principle only

Note: GST at 18% applies on the fee component for Indian-entity platforms. Dodo international subscription effective rate is approximately 6-7% (4% + 1.5% international + 0.5% subscription + $0.40 fixed).

 

 

Top Stripe Alternative Platforms Ranked

Rank 1. Razorpay International - Best for Indian-Entity SaaS Accepting Global Payments

Rating: 4.8/5 | Best overall for Indian SaaS companies with existing Indian entity

Parameter	Value
Fee	3% + 18% GST
FX markup	Mid-market positioning
Effective all-in	~3%
Subscription billing	Razorpay Subscriptions (separate product)
Apple Pay	Yes (first Indian payment aggregator, Sep 2025)
Google Pay	Yes
Supported currencies	135 currencies, 180+ countries
Auto-eFIRC	Yes, per transaction
RBI PA-CB licence	Full: Export + Import (Dec 2025)
Domestic payments	Yes (same platform)
Indian entity required	Yes (Indian-entity product)

Razorpay International is the most complete payment gateway solution for Indian SaaS companies that want to accept global payments without a foreign entity. It operates under a full RBI PA-CB licence covering both inward and outward cross-border transactions, issued in December 2025. Razorpay holds all three RBI payment licences: PA-O (online domestic), PA-P (physical/offline), and PA-CB (cross-border).

The International Payment Gateway supports Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners, Apple Pay, and Google Pay from international buyers in 180+ countries across 135 currencies. In September 2025, Razorpay became the first Indian payment aggregator to offer Apple Pay for cross-border transactions, enabling US and UK customers on Apple devices to pay via Face ID or Touch ID at a Razorpay-hosted checkout. Published data shows a 58% improvement in payment completion rates when Apple Pay is enabled vs standard card entry forms for the same checkout.

For SaaS companies, the critical advantage over Stripe India is the auto-eFIRC per transaction. Every international payment processed through Razorpay International generates an eFIRC that is available for download from the merchant dashboard without any bank request. For a SaaS company billing 15-20 international invoices per month, this eliminates approximately 3-4 hours of monthly compliance work compared to a manual FIRC process.

The same Razorpay dashboard handles both domestic INR transactions and international payments, removing the need for a separate domestic payment gateway.

Subscription billing note: Razorpay Subscriptions is a separate product that supports recurring billing in INR. For international subscription billing (charging US customers in USD on a monthly plan), the integration requires additional configuration. This is a genuine gap versus Paddle and Dodo, which have subscription billing natively included in their MoR model.

Honest limitation: The 3% rate is higher than what Stripe US charges (2.9% + $0.30). For Indian SaaS companies at very high MRR (above $100,000 per month), the difference is material and the economics of maintaining a foreign entity with Stripe US may start to justify the compliance overhead.

Pros:

• Full RBI PA-CB licence, the strongest regulatory standing of any Indian-entity option in this comparison
• Apple Pay and Google Pay support for international customers, no other Indian payment aggregator currently matches this
• Auto-eFIRC per transaction, eliminating manual bank documentation for GST refund compliance
• Domestic + international on the same dashboard, no second gateway needed
• 95%+ cross-border payment success rate via smart routing across multiple acquiring banks
• Activated directly via Razorpay dashboard without invite-only restrictions
• India-based 24x7 support team

Cons:

• 3% is higher than Stripe US on a per-transaction basis
• International subscription billing (USD recurring) requires additional setup vs MoR platforms where it is included
• No Merchant of Record option: global tax compliance (VAT in EU, sales tax in US states, GST in Australia) remains the merchant's responsibility

Rank 2. Paddle - Best MoR Option for SaaS Under $50,000 MRR

Rating: 4.0/5 | Best for SaaS teams that want zero tax compliance overhead

Parameter	Value
Fee	5% + $0.50 per transaction
FX markup	2-3ove mid-market on currency conversion
Effective all-in	7-10% (with FX and add-ons)
Subscription billing	Fully included in MoR model
Global tax handling	Fully included (VAT, US sales tax, GST)
Chargebacks	Paddle handles (MoR liability)
Monthly fee	None
Supported countries	180+
Auto-FIRC	N/A (MoR model; settlement to Indian bank as export income)
Indian entity needed	No (Paddle acts as the legal seller)

Paddle is a Merchant of Record platform that acts as the legal seller on every transaction. When a customer buys your SaaS product through Paddle, they are legally purchasing from Paddle, not from your Indian company. Paddle calculates, collects, and remits VAT across Europe, sales tax across US states, GST in Australia and Canada, and dozens of other jurisdictions. For an Indian SaaS company with customers across 15-20 countries, this removes an enormous compliance burden.

The MoR model means Paddle's 5% plus $0.50 fee is not apples-to-apples with Razorpay's 3%. Paddle's fee replaces: transaction fee, tax calculation and filing, chargeback handling, and subscription management. If Razorpay is used instead, the merchant must buy or build each of these separately.

However, Paddle's effective cost is significantly higher than the headline once currency conversion is applied. For a US-based customer paying $100 in USD and the Indian SaaS company receiving INR, Paddle's currency conversion margin of 2-3ove mid-market turns the 5% headline into approximately 7-8fective. On $10,000 MRR, that is Rs. 59,500-68,000 in monthly fees versus Razorpay's Rs. 25,500.

The cost-benefit tilts in Paddle's favour at early MRR stages (below $15,000-20,000) where the saved cost of a tax accountant, a tax tool like TaxJar, and dedicated chargeback management may be comparable to or greater than the fee premium. Above $50,000 MRR, Paddle's own documentation suggests the economics shift: at that scale, most founders should evaluate whether the fee difference (roughly 4 percentage points against Razorpay) justifies the engineering and operational cost of self-managing compliance.

Pros:

• Zero global tax compliance work: Paddle handles VAT, US sales tax, Australian GST, and 100+ other jurisdictions
• Subscription billing fully included, no separate configuration
• Chargeback liability transfers to Paddle, reducing risk for SaaS companies with high consumer volume
• No Indian entity required - accessible for individual founders and pre-incorporation stages
• No monthly fee on the standard plan
• Support for Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and 20+ local payment methods globally

Cons:

• Effective all-in cost of 7-10% when FX conversion margin is included is the highest in this comparison for a like-for-like payment scenario
• Currency conversion margin of 2-3ove mid-market is not prominently disclosed on the pricing page
• Support quality for smaller plans is slow; merchant reports of multi-day response times for billing issues
• Paddle is the merchant of record, meaning the customer relationship is legally with Paddle, not your SaaS company
• No ACH, SEPA Direct Debit, or BACS payment method support

Rank 3. Dodo Payments - Indian-Friendly MoR with Competitive Base Rate

Rating: 3.6/5 | Good for India-first indie SaaS and early-stage AI startups

Parameter	Value
Base fee (US)	4% + $0.40
International surcharge	+1.5%
Subscription surcharge	+0.5%
Effective rate (intl. subscription)	~6-7%
Chargeback fee	$30 per dispute
Refund fee	$1 per processed refund
Supported countries	220+
Payment methods	40+
Indian entity required	No
Subscription billing	Included
Founded	2023
Funding	$2.1M (Antler, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts)

Dodo Payments is a Merchant of Record platform founded in 2023 by Rishabh Goel and Ayush Agarwal, specifically targeting Indian indie hackers, AI startups, and early-stage SaaS founders building global products. It acts as the legal seller on every transaction, handling global tax compliance, chargebacks, and subscription management in a similar model to Paddle.

The 4% plus $0.40 base rate is more competitive than Paddle's 5% plus $0.50. However, the stacked fee structure for international subscription payments brings the effective rate to approximately 6-7% for the typical Indian SaaS company billing US customers on a monthly plan (4se + 1.5% international + 0.5% subscription + $0.40 fixed). This is higher than it appears at the headline level.

The platform covers 220+ countries with 40+ payment methods and includes subscription billing, usage-based billing, and one-time payment support. It has a particular focus on AI SaaS companies, with credits and usage-based billing models built into the product.

Dodo is three years old in 2026. The platform has raised $2.1 million from Antler, 9Unicorns, and Venture Catalysts, with the most recent round of $1.1 million closed in December 2025. For Indian SaaS companies with mission-critical billing infrastructure, the platform's youth and relatively limited engineering depth compared to Paddle or Razorpay is a genuine risk factor. Documentation coverage and integration depth continue to develop.

Dodo does not support ACH, SEPA Direct Debit, or BACS Direct Debit. B2B SaaS companies whose enterprise customers prefer direct debit methods for recurring payments will need to assess this gap.

Pros:

• 4se rate is 1 percentage point cheaper than Paddle at the headline level
• India-first design and support, founders accessible via community channels
• 220+ countries and 40+ payment methods, broader country coverage than most alternatives
• MoR model eliminates global tax compliance, same as Paddle
• Usage-based and credit billing models built in, relevant for AI SaaS products
• No Indian entity required

Cons:

• Effective cost for international subscriptions (~6-7%) closes much of the gap vs Paddle's 5% + $0.50 once surcharges are applied
• $30 chargeback fee is a real cost risk for consumer-facing SaaS with higher dispute rates
• Platform is three years old with documentation and integration depth still developing
• No ACH, SEPA Direct Debit, or BACS support
• $5 fee on payouts under $1,000 penalises early-stage businesses with small monthly settlements
• Smaller engineering and support team than Paddle or Razorpay

Rank 4. PayU International - Better for India-Inbound Than India-Outbound

Rating: 3.2/5 | More relevant for global merchants collecting from Indian customers than for Indian SaaS billing internationally

Parameter	Value
Fee	Not consistently published (4-6fective, per merchant reports)
FX markup	1.5-2.5% on top of stated card fees
Effective all-in	~4-6%
Subscription billing	UPI AutoPay (Indian customers only)
Auto-FIRC	Via AD bank
RBI PA-CB licence	Yes (inbound payments for international businesses in India)
Best use case	Global merchant accepting payments from Indian consumers

PayU International holds an RBI PA-CB licence, but its core cross-border product is oriented toward helping international businesses (without an Indian entity) accept payments from Indian customers in INR. This is a different use case from what Indian SaaS companies need: collecting USD or EUR from US, UK, and European customers.

For Indian SaaS companies billing international customers, PayU's cross-border product has been reported at effective costs of 4-6%, with a FX markup of 1.5-2.5ded on top of stated transaction fees. Pricing transparency is lower than Razorpay or Wise-based alternatives: the full cost is not consistently displayed on the pricing page and requires a sales conversation to confirm.

PayU's subscription product, UPI AutoPay, is purpose-built for recurring billing in India from Indian customers. It does not serve the use case of charging a US-based customer's Visa card on a monthly subscription cycle.

PayU is a strong domestic payment gateway for Indian customers and is well-established in the market. For the specific use case of Indian SaaS billing global subscribers, the product depth and pricing transparency of alternatives ranked above it make them more suitable choices.

Pros:

• Established Indian payment gateway with strong domestic market position
• RBI PA-CB licensed
• UPI AutoPay for Indian subscriber base (if your SaaS also sells to Indian customers)
• Multi-currency settlement available in USD, GBP, EUR, SGD, AUD, and others

Cons:

• Cross-border product designed primarily for global merchants collecting from Indian customers, not Indian merchants billing global customers
• Effective cost of 4-6% with 1.5-2.5% FX markup is not transparently published
• No Apple Pay or Google Pay for international customers
• Subscription billing for international currencies not a core product feature
• No auto-FIRC; documentation via AD bank

Rank 5. Traditional SWIFT Wire - For Enterprise Annual Contracts Only

Rating: 3.0/5 | Relevant only for large B2B annual contracts; not viable for subscription billing

Parameter	Value
Sender fee	$25-50 per wire (paid by client)
Intermediary bank deductions	$10-30 (deducted from amount received)
FX markup at Indian bank	2-4ove mid-market
Effective all-in	Variable - cost-effective above ~$20,000 per transfer
Subscription billing	None - manual invoicing only
FIRC	Manual bank request per wire, 5-10 business days
USD hold	Via EEFC account at Indian bank

Traditional SWIFT wire transfer is the standard method for large B2B enterprise payments. An enterprise client in the US wires USD directly to your Indian EEFC (Exchange Earners' Foreign Currency) account. You receive the wire at your bank's prevailing FX rate, which typically carries a 2-4% markup above mid-market.

The fixed-cost structure is what defines SWIFT's utility for SaaS. A $30,000 annual contract payment incurring a $50 sender fee, $20 in intermediary deductions, and a 2nk FX spread costs approximately 2.4% all-in. That is the cheapest option in this comparison at that transaction size. Apply the same cost structure to a $500 monthly subscription payment and the effective cost exceeds 15%.

SWIFT wire transfers have no subscription automation. Indian SaaS companies using SWIFT for recurring payments must send an invoice manually, wait for the wire, manually reconcile against the invoice, and request FIRC from the bank per transaction. At 12 monthly invoices per year to a single client, this is approximately 12 FIRC requests, each taking 5-10 business days.

The practical use case is narrow: Indian SaaS companies that have signed enterprise annual contracts above $20,000 per deal, where the client's procurement process requires a bank wire rather than a card payment, and where the billing is annual (not monthly). Outside this scenario, every alternative in this comparison is more operationally practical.

Pros:

• Cheapest option on a percentage basis for transfers above $15,000-20,000 per single wire
• No platform dependency: direct bank-to-bank transfer
• EEFC account allows USD to be held before INR conversion
• Standard B2B enterprise payment method that most US corporate clients can execute without special instructions

Cons:

• Fixed costs ($25-50 sender fee + $10-30 intermediary) make it expensive for any payment below $10,000
• No subscription automation whatsoever: every payment is a manual process
• FX at Indian bank (2-4ove mid-market) varies by bank and relationship without transparency
• FIRC requires a separate manual request per incoming wire (5-10 business days)
• Significant reconciliation overhead for SaaS companies billing multiple clients monthly

 

Subscription Billing Capability Comparison

This is where Indian SaaS companies should scrutinise alternatives carefully, as Stripe's full subscription management suite (Stripe Billing, dunning, proration, and usage-based billing) is one of its strongest features.

Platform	Native Subscription Billing	Dunning and Recovery	USD Recurring (International)	Usage-Based Billing
Razorpay International	Razorpay Subscriptions (add-on; INR primary)	Partial (retry logic)	Requires configuration	Limited
Paddle	Fully included	Included	Yes, natively	Paddle Billing supports it
Dodo Payments	Fully included	Included	Yes, natively	Yes (AI SaaS focus)
PayU International	UPI AutoPay (India-in only)	Limited	No native USD recurring	No
Traditional SWIFT	None	None	None (manual)	None
Stripe India	Stripe Billing (limited India access)	Yes (if accessible)	Limited under invite-only model	Yes (if accessible)

The practical implication: For Indian SaaS companies with USD subscription billing as a core requirement, Paddle and Dodo are the only platforms in this comparison where international monthly subscription charging is built into the product without additional configuration. Razorpay's Subscriptions product handles INR billing; for USD recurring, the integration requires additional setup but is achievable.

 

Involuntary Churn: Why Failed Payments Cost More Than the Platform Fee

For subscription SaaS, the total cost of a payment platform is not just the transaction fee. Failed payment recovery determines how much of your MRR is retained each month.

At $10,000 MRR with a 3% monthly involuntary churn rate (industry average for B2C SaaS), $300 in MRR fails on the first charge attempt each month. Platforms with smart retry logic recover a portion of this; platforms without it lose it permanently.

• Razorpay: Smart routing across multiple acquiring banks improves first-attempt success to 95%+. Failed payment retry logic available with Subscriptions product.
• Paddle: Includes automatic dunning and smart retry. Published recovery rates of 20-30% of failed payments.
• Dodo Payments: Failed payment recovery charged at 5% of recovered revenue only (no recovery, no fee). No recovery fee on first attempt failures.
• PayU: Limited dunning for international cards.
• SWIFT: No automated recovery possible. Failed wires require manual client follow-up.

Quote-ready: At $10,000 MRR with a 3% monthly involuntary churn rate, a payment platform with 95%+ success rates and smart retry recovers approximately $270 more per month than a platform with an 85% success rate and no dunning. Annualised, that is $3,240 in additional retained revenue before the transaction fee comparison even begins.

 

Best Platform by MRR Stage

 

MRR Stage	Recommended Platform	Reason
Pre-$5,000 MRR	Dodo Payments or Paddle	Zero tax compliance overhead; MoR handles everything; no Indian entity required
$5,000-$20,000 MRR	Razorpay International	Lower effective cost than MoR platforms at this scale; full RBI compliance; auto-eFIRC; Apple Pay
$20,000-$100,000 MRR	Razorpay International	Fee advantage over MoR compounds significantly; custom pricing available at higher volumes
$100,000+ MRR	Evaluate foreign entity + Stripe US or Razorpay International	At this scale, fee difference vs Stripe US/Razorpay international starts to justify the FEMA ODI compliance overhead; Razorpay also remains competitive with enterprise pricing
Enterprise annual contracts ($20,000+ per deal)	Traditional SWIFT + Razorpay IPG	SWIFT for large annual wires; Razorpay IPG for supplemental card-based transactions

 

The Foreign Entity Question: When It Makes Sense to Use Stripe US

For Indian SaaS companies that do reach $100,000+ MRR and need the full Stripe product suite (Stripe Billing, Stripe Tax, Stripe Radar, connect, issuing), the Delaware LLC or Singapore private limited company route merits evaluation. Using a foreign entity with Stripe US gives access to the full Stripe platform at 2.9% plus $0.30.

The obligations under FEMA's ODI framework: Form FC filed with the AD bank before the investment is made, Annual Performance Report by December 31 each year, FLA return to the RBI by July 15 each year, and compliance with the 400% net worth cap on overseas investment.

For SaaS companies with a CFO or finance team that can manage these filings, the overhead is manageable. For founder-led companies at early stages, the compliance cost (in time or CA fees) typically exceeds the fee savings until MRR crosses $50,000-100,000 per month.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an Indian company use Stripe in 2026?

Stripe India has been invite-only for new accounts since May 2024. Indian companies that did not activate Stripe before this date must apply and be approved before processing transactions. Existing accounts require re-verification under updated documentation requirements. Stripe India supports card payments only, does not support SWIFT or bank transfers, does not auto-generate FIRC documentation, and carries an effective all-in cost of approximately 6.3% for Indian cross-border sellers.

What is the best Stripe alternative for Indian SaaS companies?

For Indian SaaS companies with an Indian entity accepting international card payments, Razorpay International is the strongest alternative in 2026. It holds a full RBI PA-CB licence (December 2025), charges 3% plus GST on international transactions, supports Apple Pay and Google Pay for international customers, and auto-generates eFIRC per transaction. At $10,000 MRR, Razorpay costs approximately Rs. 28,000 less per month in platform fees compared to Stripe India's ~6.3fective all-in rate.

What is a Merchant of Record and do Indian SaaS companies need one?

A Merchant of Record (MoR) is a company that acts as the legal seller on your transactions, assuming liability for global tax compliance, chargebacks, and regulatory filings in buyer jurisdictions. For Indian SaaS companies selling globally, an MoR like Paddle or Dodo Payments eliminates the need to register for VAT in Europe, sales tax in US states, and GST in Australia. The trade-off is a higher transaction fee: Paddle charges 5% plus $0.50 and Dodo charges 4% plus $0.40 base (higher for international subscriptions). MoR platforms are most cost-effective below $15,000-20,000 MRR, where the compliance savings outweigh the fee premium.

Does Razorpay support Apple Pay for international customers in India?

Yes. Razorpay launched Apple Pay for cross-border transactions in September 2025 and is the first Indian payment aggregator to offer this capability. International customers on Apple devices can pay via Face ID or Touch ID authentication at Razorpay-hosted checkout pages. Published data shows a 58% improvement in payment completion rates when Apple Pay is enabled compared to standard card entry forms for the same checkout. Apple Pay is supported alongside Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners, and Google Pay on the International Payment Gateway.

What is FIRC and why does it matter for Indian SaaS companies?

A Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) or its electronic form (eFIRC) is mandatory documentation for every international payment received by an Indian resident for exported services. It is the primary evidence required for GST refund claims under zero-rated export rules applicable to software and professional service exports. Platforms that auto-generate eFIRC per transaction, such as Razorpay International, eliminate manual bank requests for this documentation. Stripe India does not generate FIRC; Indian businesses must submit separate requests to their authorised dealer bank for each inward remittance, which typically takes 3-15 business days per transaction.

How much does Paddle actually cost for Indian SaaS companies?

Paddle's headline rate is 5% plus $0.50 per transaction. For Indian SaaS companies receiving settlement in INR, Paddle applies a currency conversion margin of 2-3ove the mid-market exchange rate, bringing the effective all-in cost to approximately 7-10% for international transactions. Paddle also charges $0.25 per invoice for invoicing features. The MoR model means this fee replaces the cost of global tax compliance, chargeback management, and subscription billing that would otherwise be purchased or built separately. Paddle's own analysis suggests the economics of using Paddle vs. a lower-fee platform like Razorpay shift in favour of the lower-fee platform around $50,000-100,000 MRR.

Can I accept subscription payments from US customers with an Indian entity?

Yes. Razorpay International, Paddle, and Dodo Payments all support USD subscription payments from US-based customers to Indian-entity businesses. Paddle and Dodo handle this natively within their MoR product. Razorpay's International Payment Gateway handles recurring card charges, though USD subscription billing requires additional setup compared to INR subscriptions through Razorpay Subscriptions. PayU International's subscription product, UPI AutoPay, is designed for collecting recurring payments from Indian customers in INR and does not serve the use case of billing US customers on a USD subscription cycle.

What are the RBI PA-CB licence categories and which platforms hold them?

The RBI introduced the PA-CB (Payment Aggregator Cross-Border) licensing framework in October 2023. Three categories exist: Export only (PA-CB-E), Import only (PA-CB-I), and Export and Import (PA-CB-E&I). Razorpay holds the Export and Import licence, the most comprehensive category, issued in December 2025. PayU holds a PA-CB licence for inbound payments (facilitating international businesses collecting from Indian customers). Stripe India holds only an in-principle approval, with full authorisation still pending. Paddle and Dodo Payments operate as Merchant of Record platforms and are not subject to the PA-CB framework in the same way, as they are foreign entities acting as the legal seller.