5 Best Payment Gateways in India in 2024

In 2024, India's ecommerce market is expected to be worth over USD 112 billion, with projections indicating it will grow to USD 300 billion by 2030.

As online shopping grows, digital payments are becoming more central to the process. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) now handles over 75% of all digital transactions in India. UPI enables instant bank account transfers via apps, often linked with popular mobile wallets like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay, while credit and debit card payments, including RuPay, remain widely used.

For businesses aiming to succeed in India's rapidly growing online market, selecting the right payment gateway that supports the payment methods most convenient and popular with local consumers is essential.

In this article, we've compiled a list of the best payment gateways in India, complete with their features, accepted payment options, fees, pros and cons, and factors to consider when selecting the ideal one for your business.

A payment gateway is a platform that collects, verifies, and encrypts a customer's payment information. Once secured, it sends these details to the payment processors and the merchant's account to finalise the transaction. 

However, if there are any discrepancies, the customers retain the funds. Both parties are promptly notified of the transaction outcome, ensuring the security of funds when money changes hands.

Paytm is a top payment app in India, with over 300 million Indians using it for everyday spending like shopping, paying bills, topping up mobiles, sending money to friends and family, and booking tickets.

It also supports businesses through its "Paytm for Business" offering payment gateways, business software, and business loans, among other services. The Paytm payment gateway is intended for small and large businesses, ecommerce, local vendors, freelancers, and more.

Over 20 million businesses use Paytm to accept digital payments. It also powers India’s biggest brands, such as IRCTC, Uber, Flipkart, Zomato, and numerous others. 

Paytm Key Features

Paytm Accepted Payment Methods

Paytm offers over 100 payment methods, including Indians’ preferred methods, which are:

• Paytm Digital Wallet
• Paytm Postpaid
• UPI
• Debit and credit cards: Visa, Mastercard®, American Express, Diners, RuPay and more  
• Bank transfer
• Net Banking from over 50 major banks
• EMI  (Credit cards, debit cards and cardless)

Other payment methods may be supported upon request. The monthly transaction limit depends on the business type.

Paytm Key Usage Fees

Paytm offers two types of pricing plans for its online payment gateway: the standard pricing plan and the enterprise pricing plan. The enterprise plan is fully customisable, while the standard plan fees, designed for small to medium-sized businesses, are as follows:

• Setup fee: Free
• Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC): Free
• Platform fees for all transactions excluding Diners, American Express, and international transactions: 1.99%
• Platform fees for payment instruments: 2.99%

Please note that 18% GST is applicable on all fees. For more details, please refer to the Paytm Pricing page. 

Paytm Pros and Cons

Razorpay is another well-known payment processing platform headquartered in Bangalore. The company provides a range of payment solutions designed for business owners, enabling them to accept, process, and distribute payments through a single provider.

While its primary service is a payment gateway, it offers various business-oriented products alongside, including developer-friendly APIs, straightforward integration solutions, payroll, business banking and more.

Razorpay has served 5 million businesses so far. 

Razorpay Key Features

Razorpay Accepted Payment Methods

Razorpay offers over 100 payment methods, among those are the preferred choices in India, including:

• Digital wallets - PhonePe, PayPal, Amazon Pay, PayZapp, MobiKwik, FreeCharge, and more
• UPI - PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and more
• Domestic and international credit and debit cards - Visa, Mastercard®, RuPay, Maestro, American Express, Diners Club  
• Net Banking from 58 banks, including ICICI, Kotak, Axis and more 
• EMI (Credit cards, debit cards and cardless)
• PayLater

Razorpay Key Usage Fees

Here are the Razorpay Key Usage Fees 

• Setup fee: Free
• Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC): Free
• Razorpay platform fee for all payment products: Starting at 2%
• International credit and debit card: 3%
• International bank transfers: 1.5%
• International payment methods: 3.5%

All fees are subject to 18% GST. Depending on the payment method, the monthly transaction limit ranges from INR 10,000 to INR 500,000. 

Please refer to Razorpay Payment Gateway Charges for full details.

Razorpay Pros and Cons

Cashfree Payments is a comprehensive payment platform in India that enables users to make and collect payments in India and abroad. It supports various payment methods and offers added features such as instant settlements, recurring payments, verification services, and cross-border payments.

Cashfree serves over 600,000 businesses, processing more than USD 80 billion annually. 

Cashfree Payments Key Features

Cashfree Payments Accepted Payment Methods

Cashfree Payments offers over 120 payment methods, including

• Digital wallets - Paytm, PhonePe, PayPal, Amazon Pay and more 
• UPI
• Credit and debit cards - namely Visa, Mastercard®, American Express, Diners, Maestro and RuPay.
• Net Banking of more than 65 banks
• EMI
• Pay Later 

Cashfree Payments Key Usage Fees

Here are the Cashfree Payments Key Usage Fees

• Setup fee: Free
• Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC): INR 4,999
• Payment modes - UPI, Visa, Mastercard®, RuPay, PhonePe, Maestro, ICICI, Jio Money, Airtel Money, Amazon Pay, Net Banking: 1.95%
• UPI on credit cards: 2.15%
• EMI: Starting from 1.50% - 1.90%
• International cards: 2.95% - 2.99%
• Pay Later: 2.20%

Please refer to Cashfree Payments' Pricing for the complete details.

Cashfree Payments Pros and Cons

PayU offers digital payment solutions to businesses in India, with over 500,000 merchants trusting its services.

The company offers a comprehensive payment ecosystem, including payment gateways, QR codes, account automation, and more. PayU also caters to industry-specific needs such as startups, travel, insurance, and edtech.

Beyond India, PayU operates under the extended brand PayU Global, serving as the payment gateway and processor for online transactions. In certain markets, it also functions as an acquiring bank.

PayU Key Features

PayU Accepted Payment Methods

PayU India accepts over 150 payment modes, including

• Digital wallets - Paytm and more
• Credit and debit cards - Visa, Mastercard®, RuPay, American Express, and Diners
• UPI
• Net Banking
• EMI
• BNPL

PayU Key Usage Fees

PayU India has a simple pay-as-you-go plan, with 18% GST applicable on all transactions. 

• Set up fee: Free
• Domestic transactions via Visa, Mastercard®, Net Banking, BNPL, wallets: 2%
• International transactions via Diners, American Express, EMI: 3%

Please refer to the PayU India Pricing page for full details. 

PayU Pros and Cons

Instamojo is primarily recognised as an ecommerce website builder for direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses, MSMEs and startups. However, it also offers an integrated online payments solution within the platform, allowing users to manage their online businesses with features like an in-website payment gateway, shipping, and analytics. Additionally, it provides payment solutions such as a smart page, payment links, and payouts.

The payment gateway product emphasises simplicity, flexibility, and security tailored for ecommerce. It is trusted by over 2,000,000 Indian businesses. 

Instamojo Payment Key Features

Instamojo Payment Accepted Payment Methods

Instamojo offers over 100 online payment methods. Among those are the following

• Digital wallets - Mobikwik, Freecharge, OlaMoney, and JioMoney
• Credit and debit cards - all major brands
• UPI
• Net Banking

Instamojo Payment Key Usage Fees

• Physical goods: 2% + INR 3
• Digital goods: 5% + INR 3
• Payment link Quick plan: 2% + INR 3 transaction fee
• Payment link Smart plan: 2% + INR 3 transaction fee, plus an annual fee of $2,999/yr
• Basic Smart Page (Landing page with integrated payments): 5% + INR 3
• Pro Smart Page (Landing page with integrated payments): 2% + INR 3 transaction fee, plus an annual fee of $9,999/yr

18% GST per transaction applies to all fees. Please refer to Instamojo Payment Gateway page and Instamojo Pricing page for full details.  

Instamojo Pros and Cons

To provide context behind our highlighted payment gateway selections and help you choose the right payment gateway for your business needs, let's outline the key factors to consider when evaluating any service provider.

Security

A secure payment takes centre stage when handling your customers' financial and personal data.

Key security measures for safe transactions include:

• End-to-end encryption to encode data between endpoints, allowing only authorised access to customers' payment details.
• Verification systems like PINs, passwords or biometrics for authentication.
• Fraud protection tools that monitor, block potential fraud, and alert relevant parties such as cardholders about unusual transactions so preventive steps can be taken if a breach is suspected.
• Compliance with PCI DSS, the security standard used by major card brands to prevent fraud and data breaches.

When evaluating providers’ security, consider asking them:

• How do you ensure data security?
• What approaches are used to counteract fraud and cyber risks?
• What is the action plan in case of a data breach?

Customer Experience

Complicated checkout processes partly contribute to 70% of abandoned carts. 

The simpler, faster and less cluttered you make the payment experience, the better chance of getting customers past that 70%. 

Leveraging a one-click checkout page offered by many providers can be your best move. A responsive design optimised for various devices and screens will also be important since nearly 40% of customers shop on mobile. Lastly, check the success rate of a payment gateway, as it should be about 99%. 

On the backend, a well-designed admin dashboard can save you time and effort in transaction management, refund processing, and reporting, improving overall operational efficiency.

To analyse a provider's user experience, ask them about their interface design specifics, such as:

• What customisation options are available?
• Does the payment page perform well on various devices, browsers, and screen sizes?
• What functionalities are included in the admin dashboard?
• What’s the uptime and the success rate of the payment gateway?

Costs

Payment gateways come with various costs, primarily transaction fees, setup fees, annual maintenance fees, international fees, and dispute fees. In India,  the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is another important factor. Payment gateways are typically subject to an 18% GST, so it’s best to verify whether the provider's fees include this tax.

Furthermore, consider the pricing structure. Payment gateways typically offer two options: subscription plans with monthly fees but lower per-transaction costs or pay-as-you-go plans with no monthly fees but potentially higher cost per transaction.

In general, subscription plans are better for high-volume businesses, while pay-as-you-go suits businesses with irregular or lower sales.

To better understand costs, request a quote and ask questions such as:

• What is covered by monthly fees?
• How are international payments and foreign currencies handled? What is the exchange rate markup?
• Are extra services like fraud prevention or support charged separately?
• Are volume discounts offered?
• How will invoices be issued?

Compatibility

Even the most secure and feature-rich payment gateway won't add value if it cannot function within your current infrastructure. Integration with existing systems such as your website, online store, CRM software, and other essential business tools is a crucial criterion.

Common payment gateway integration options include:

• API (Application Programming Interface) to facilitate data exchange between programs and platforms.
• SDK (Software Development Kit) that allows developers to customise gateway functionality through code libraries and tools.
• Documentation guiding how to leverage tools like the API and SDK.
• Responsive technical support in case issues arise.

To evaluate a payment gateway provider's compatibility, ask about the following:

• Supported programming languages, frameworks and tools for integration.
• How are updates, upgrades, or modifications to the gateway or features managed?

Assistance

It's common to encounter payment system hiccups such as checkout crashes, fee errors, dispute issues, and refund failures, which can result in customer dissatisfaction and revenue declines.

Therefore, it’s crucial to have a provider with a responsive support team that can promptly address issues and is easily accessible through various channels such as phone, email, or live chat. 

Some questions to ask about support when vetting a payment service provider include:

• What methods are available for contacting support?
• How responsive is your customer service? What’s the average response time for resolving issues?

Languages

India is home to a diverse array of languages, with Hindi having the most native speakers, 22 officially recognised, and hundreds of others spoken across the country.

So, dynamic checkout with regional languages available is a nice plus. 

Doing business in India means understanding its unique payment preferences. This includes supporting digital wallets like Paytm and PhonePe, the RBI-backed UPI platforms, and major cards, including the domestic RuPay.    

In addition, key factors to weigh when picking a payment gateway provider are robust security, user-friendly interfaces, seamless integrations, cost-effectiveness, and reliable customer support. 

With those factors in mind, our list highlights Paytm's widespread acceptance, Razorpay's wide range of preferred payment options, Cashfree's support for multi-branch businesses, PayU's blend of local and global reach, and Instamojo's dual offering as both an ecommerce platform and payment solution.

We hope this guide helps you make an informed decision when picking the best payment solution for your business in India!