Ask HN: How to receive payments from India for an international company?
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.
Has anyone else run into this problem and has anyone found any workable solution?
35 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 55.4 ms ] threadThen you can convert them to cash at coinbase and alike exchanges right away.
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.
https://localbitcoins.com/country/IN
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.
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...
2. https://www.isaumya.com/paypal-google-wallet-indian-debit-ca...
https://www.payubiz.in/international-merchant
The RBI certainly hates us :(
Not sure it is partly that or just that. Note: I'm not speaking to defend them as a knee-jerk reaction. There was and still is tons of unaccounted transactions in India (hence the recent cash demonetization, though it has caused lots of issues), and there is also the socialist background and mentality from Nehruvian days of gov't (from soon after independence for many decades, till the 90s), distrust of capitalism (both within and without the country, with a lot of justifications, considering colonialism and hoarding traders later). So there is some (sort of) logical background for all that. I remember reading and hearing (in person) stories from the previous two generations to me, about people going abroad for studies or work, about going to the States with 5 dollars in their pocket (likely exaggerated for effect, but may be a measly 100 or so), camping outside the RBI offices to ask for small amounts of foreign exchange, all sorts of stories. (Rich people taking ill-gotten and unaccounted money outside the country was also a reason for all those rules - so it makes some sort of sense, whether it worked very well or not.) Thing have improved some since them - but not perfect by a long chalk.
The RBI is actually staffed by some pretty well-educated people who tend to act in India's longer term interest - speaking purely as a layman here of course.
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.
I surely can’t be the first business in history to run into this problem?
HTH
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.
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.
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.
Truer words have seldom been written before.
What you might find even more amazing is the fact that almost ALL bank staffers are equally ignorant/in the dark about online/international payments. Case in point: I have had a Corporation Bank account of which the debit card just wouldn't work for online payments. Sometime ago, a niece opened an account with them (at a different branch). Shortly afterwards, she needed to make an international payment. On checking with the branch, she was told it (the debit card) wouldn't work. She thought of trying anyway and guess what - it DID work!! On coming to know this, I asked my branch - they said no idea. Next, I asked her branch - the same answer. I had also had a similar experience with ICICI bank debit card, that wouldn't work. After a good bit of struggle calling back and forth and personal visits to the branch, I learnt that their older debit cards won't work, but they do have a newer 'Chip and Pin' version that would work. After getting this (new) card, I've been able to use it without a problem (with 2FA).
HTH