Launching payments in India: the stack

By Polynopsis team · Last updated 28 October 2026

Paying out in India means using a channel the Reserve Bank of India permits: a Rupee Drawing Arrangement or Vostro account with an AD Category-I bank, or the Money Transfer Service Scheme (capped at US$2,500 per personal remittance), with rupees credited over UPI, IMPS, NEFT or RTGS, which all run 24x7. Cross-border payment companies typically reach those banks through payout networks such as Nium, Thunes, dLocal or TerraPay, collect for Indian merchants through RBI-authorised cross-border payment aggregators such as Razorpay and Cashfree, and buy rupees in RBI's 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. IST onshore FX hours or from AD Category-I banks that choose to quote outside them.

Currency	INR
Local payout rails	UPI (Unified Payments Interface), IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement)
Holiday calendar	India bank holidays 2026 and 2027
Corridor playbooks	USD to INR

The India market

India received US$150.7 billion in personal remittances in 2025, equal to 3.8% of GDP, up from US$137.7 billion in 2024 (World Bank data, updated 8 October 2026). source
RBI's sixth remittances survey put inward remittances at US$118.7 billion in 2023-24; the United States was the largest source at 27.7%, ahead of the UAE (19.2%) and the UK (10.8%). source
Among bank channels in 2023-24, Rupee Drawing Arrangements carried the most remittances, followed by direct Vostro transfers from overseas banks and then RDAs operated by fintechs; 73.5% of the remittances received by money transfer operators came through digital modes. source
UPI carried 85.5% of India's total payment volume in July to December 2025, with 12,191.23 crore (121.9 billion) transactions in that half year, according to RBI's Payment System Report of December 2025. source
UPI processed 22,828 crore (228.3 billion) transactions worth about Rs 300 lakh crore in calendar year 2025, up from 3,873 crore in 2021, according to RBI's Payment System Report of December 2025. source
As on 31 March 2026, RBI had registered 17 Account Aggregators, with 179 financial information providers and 989 financial information users live and more than 2.88 billion accounts enabled to share data. source

Licensing: who can pay out in India

Under RBI's Master Direction on the Money Transfer Service Scheme (updated 29 September 2026), no one can handle cross-border money transfers into India without RBI permission under section 10(1) of FEMA. Indian Agents must be AD Category-I banks, AD Category-II entities, full-fledged money changers, scheduled commercial banks or the Department of Posts with net owned funds of at least Rs 50 lakh; Overseas Principals must be licensed by their home regulator with net worth of at least US$1 million. source
MTSS covers personal remittances only: each remittance is capped at US$2,500, one beneficiary can receive 30 remittances a calendar year, and outward remittances from India are not permitted under the scheme. source
Under RBI's Master Direction on Rupee and foreign currency Vostro accounts of non-resident exchange houses (updated 1 October 2026), AD Category-I banks tie up with exchange houses in Gulf countries, Hong Kong and Singapore; houses in Malaysia and other FATF-compliant countries are allowed only under the Speed Remittance Procedure. A bank applies to its RBI Regional Office when it enters RDAs for the first time and informs RBI of later ones. source
RBI's Master Direction on Payment Aggregators (15 September 2025) requires non-bank cross-border payment aggregators (PA-CB) to be authorised by RBI, with net worth of Rs 15 crore at application and Rs 25 crore by the end of the third financial year; each inward or outward PA-CB transaction is capped at Rs 25 lakh, collection accounts sit with an AD Category-I bank, and PA-CB covers merchant purchases rather than person-to-person remittances. source
Virtual digital asset service providers register with FIU-IND as reporting entities under the PMLA; 54 were registered as on 9 March 2026, including Neblio Technologies (CoinDCX), RPFAS Technologies (Mudrex) and ABHIBHA Technologies (Onmeta). The Ministry of Finance told Parliament it does not publish the list because registration could be read as licensing, approval or endorsement. source

This page explains the rules in general terms and is not legal or regulatory advice. Check the primary source and take advice on how the rules apply to your firm.

Payout rails in India

Rail	Operator	What matters for payouts	Source
UPI (Unified Payments Interface)	National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)	Available round the clock; carried 85.5% of India's payment volume in July to December 2025. Payouts go to a virtual payment address linked to a bank account.	source
IMPS (Immediate Payment Service)	National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)	Instant transfers 24x7, including holidays, up to Rs 5 lakh per transaction on all channels except SMS and IVR.	source
NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer)	Reserve Bank of India	Runs 24x7 on every day of the year, settling in half-hourly batches; RBI sets no minimum or maximum amount, though member banks may set their own limits. RTGS, the high-value system, has a Rs 2 lakh minimum and no upper limit.	source
RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement)	Reserve Bank of India	Has run 24x7 since 00:30 on 14 December 2020, about a year after NEFT moved to round-the-clock operation.	source

The India payments stack, layer by layer

The providers below are a starting shortlist for each layer, described from their own documentation. Confirm terms, coverage and licences with each provider.

Payout and collection partners

Provider	What it does in India	Source
Nium · our guide	Pays INR to all banks in India, choosing IMPS (24x7, up to INR 500,000), RTGS (18:00 IST cut-off) or NEFT in that order, plus UPI proxy and Visa Direct; trade transactions are capped at INR 1.5 million.	source
Thunes · our guide	Offers bank account payouts across India with real-time processing for C2C, B2C and C2B flows, B2B payments on a T+1 basis, and cash pickup.	source
dLocal · our guide	Supports payouts in India by bank transfer (IFSC) and by UPI to a virtual payment address, in INR or USD, for B2B, B2C and P2P flows.	source
TerraPay · our guide	Provides local-currency payouts in India through its global payments network, and in February 2026 partnered with Raenest to pay freelancers in India and the Philippines.	source
Razorpay	Holds RBI's Payment Aggregator Cross Border (PA-CB) licence, which lets it collect inward and process outward cross-border payments for Indian merchants such as exporters and SaaS firms; PA-CB covers merchant transactions, not payouts to individuals.	source
Cashfree Payments	Received RBI's PA-CB licence and lets Indian businesses collect from abroad in 140+ currencies by card and through local USD, EUR, CAD and GBP accounts; PA-CB covers merchant collections, not payouts to individuals.	source

Local banking and settlement accounts

Provider	What it does in India	Source
IndusInd Bank	Runs Indus Fast Remit, a multi-partner platform where licensed overseas exchange houses and money transfer companies credit beneficiaries under RBI's RDA scheme; Wise Platform integrated with it in June 2023 for remittances from the US and Singapore.	source
Federal Bank	Runs rupee drawing arrangements with remittance houses abroad and publishes an exchange house locator by country for transfers to India in rupees.	source
State Bank of India	Has correspondent arrangements with about 600 banks worldwide and rupee drawing arrangements with exchange companies in the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.	source

Stablecoin ramps and exchanges

Provider	What it does in India	Source
Mudrex	Lets users sell USDT for INR and withdraw rupees to a linked bank account, with no INR withdrawal fee.	source
Onmeta	Offers on and off ramps between stablecoins and INR for wallets, exchanges and apps through a widget, JavaScript SDK or REST API, crediting INR to bank accounts, and states its FIU-IND registration (REID VA00032718).	source
CoinDCX	Neblio Technologies, which operates CoinDCX, is registered with FIU-IND as a virtual digital asset service provider (Lok Sabha answer, 30 March 2026, list as on 9 March 2026).	source

FX and liquidity

Provider	What it does in India	Source
RBI onshore FCY/INR market	Over-the-counter FCY/INR trades, including forex derivatives, run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. IST; RBI kept foreign exchange market hours unchanged when it extended call money and repo hours in June 2025.	source
AD Category-I banks (outside onshore hours)	Since January 2020 AD Category-I banks can voluntarily deal with resident and non-resident customers and other banks beyond onshore market hours and quote FX to users at all times from their Indian books.	source
CCIL FX-Retail	An RBI platform run through CCIL for bank customers to buy and sell USD/INR anonymously, with cash, tom, spot and forward settlement and a US$5 million cap per transaction.	source

KYC and KYB providers

Provider	What it does in India	Source
HyperVerge	Provides video KYC, Aadhaar eSign, bank account verification (penny drop, reverse penny drop and pennyless) and KYB checks against central databases such as GST and NSDL.	source
Digio	Provides Aadhaar offline KYC, DigiLocker integration, CKYC and KRA search and submission, and bank account verification.	source
Signzy	Provides CKYC search and upload, bank account verification and business verification APIs.	source

Bank data and open banking

Provider	What it does in India	Source
Setu	Runs a multi Account Aggregator gateway connected to 100+ financial information providers and 5+ Account Aggregators for consented bank data.	source
OneMoney	An RBI-licensed Account Aggregator that shares bank statements and other financial data with user consent.	source
Account Aggregator network	RBI-registered Account Aggregators move bank data only with the customer's explicit consent, and only to financial information users registered with and regulated by a financial sector regulator (Account Aggregator Directions, 2025, issued 28 November 2025).	source

Funding and prefunding INR payouts

RBI's onshore FCY/INR market hours are 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. IST; dealing outside them depends on an AD Category-I bank choosing to quote, so rupees for night, weekend and holiday payouts have to be bought in advance unless a bank quotes outside those hours. source
RDA Vostro accounts run on a credit basis with no overdrafts, and banks credit rupees only after the foreign currency reaches their nostro account. Under the Speed Remittance Procedure exchange houses ordinarily prefund through the bank's nostro account before sending payment instructions, and banks set their own collateral policy; under DDA and non-DDA arrangements banks may take collateral of 7 days' projected drawings from exchange houses with under three years of operation. source
MTSS Overseas Principals keep collateral with a designated Indian bank equal to 3 days' average drawings or US$50,000, whichever is higher; the first US$50,000 is a foreign currency deposit and the rest can be a bank guarantee, reviewed quarterly. source
On CCIL FX-Retail, USD/INR deals settle cash (same day), tom (next day) or spot (two days after the trade), and a single deal cannot exceed US$5 million. source
UPI's standard cap is Rs 1 lakh per transaction; from 15 September 2025 NPCI raised limits to Rs 5 lakh per transaction for categories such as capital markets, insurance, travel and business collections, while person-to-person limits stayed unchanged. source

Size the prefund to your runway target with the corridor runway calculator and the India holiday calendar.

Launch checklist

Plan: launch volume, the prefund sized to your runway target including weekends and holidays, the contracting entity and the funding route.
Open accounts: shortlist payout partners and a local banking route from the layers above, and prepare the onboarding pack.
Set up: read access to every new balance, a runway target with alerts, and the corridor in your daily reports.
Go live: the first prefund and a test payout, then daily monitoring.

Polynopsis turns this into one plan with named approvals, then shows every India partner, bank and wallet in one live position. See how a corridor launch works.

Frequently asked questions

Which channel do foreign remitters use to pay out in India?

The largest share of bank-channel remittances goes through Rupee Drawing Arrangements, where AD Category-I banks credit beneficiaries from Vostro accounts held by licensed exchange houses, followed by direct Vostro transfers. The Money Transfer Service Scheme is the other route, limited to personal remittances of up to US$2,500 each and 30 per beneficiary a year.

Can a cross-border payment aggregator licence be used to pay individuals in India?

No. RBI's PA-CB rules cover merchant purchases of goods, services and investment products, cap each transaction at Rs 25 lakh, and limit inward collection account debits to merchants, refunds and other aggregators in the flow.

When can I convert dollars into rupees?

RBI's onshore FCY/INR market runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. IST. Since January 2020 AD Category-I banks can also quote to customers and other banks outside those hours, but they do so voluntarily.

Do Indian payout rails run at weekends?

Yes. UPI, IMPS, NEFT and RTGS all run 24x7, and RTGS has been round the clock since 14 December 2020. IMPS is capped at Rs 5 lakh per transaction and RTGS starts at Rs 2 lakh.

Are there regulated stablecoin off-ramps in India?

Crypto platforms register with FIU-IND as reporting entities; 54 were registered as on 9 March 2026, including Mudrex, Onmeta and CoinDCX. The government says registration is not a licence or an endorsement.

Can I read local bank balances through open banking?

India's Account Aggregator network covered more than 2.88 billion accounts and 17 RBI-registered Account Aggregators as on 31 March 2026. Only entities registered with and regulated by a financial sector regulator can receive the data as financial information users.

Other markets

Sources

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