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Accept International Payments from India
Beta

When buyers of your goods or services are located outside India.

You can increase your success rates by presenting your international payments in your customer’s local currency. We support 135+ currencies on Visa and Mastercard, as well as USD on American Express. In order to do so, these transactions will have to be declared as “exports”.

When your customer is based outside India, it’s a good idea to localize your presentment currency to match that of the customer’s card (for example, USD, EUR, JPY, and so on). This ensures a higher likelihood of a successful charge by the customer’s card issuing bank, as opposed to presenting in INR, which in some cases may be declined with a generic decline code, due to a mistaken perception of a fraudulent charge.

Stripe supports presentment in 135+ currencies. In order to present in a non-INR currency, you’ll need to provide additional information in onboarding and in API requests, since these transactions are considered exports from India.

You can find frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Stripe in India here in India FAQ.

Caution

Starting July 28, 2021, all international card payments made to businesses based in India will go through 3D Secure (3DS) authentication. In response to a recent increase in fraud rates we’re implementing additional authentication for international card payments made to Indian businesses. 3DS requires customers to complete an additional verification step with the card issuer when paying. Payments that have been successfully authenticated using 3DS are covered by a liability shift. Should a 3DS payment be disputed as fraudulent by the cardholder, the liability shifts from you to the card issuer.

Caution

At the moment, we only support non-INR presentment by registered Indian businesses (that is, sole proprietorships, limited liability partnerships and companies, but not individuals) up to a maximum of 10,000 USD per transaction, which is a regulatory limit. In addition, a valid Importer Exporter Code (IEC) is mandatory if you sell physical goods, but is optional if you sell services, as long as you’re not taking any benefits under India’s Foreign Trade Policy.

Onboarding

To enable export transactions, you must do the following when submitting your account application:

  1. Opt in to exports: In the account application, check the applicable box under the ‘I am exporting products to customers located outside India’ section. If you don’t opt in, you’ll only be able to make export charges in test mode. This option is only available for users with legal entity sole proprietorship, company, and LLC. (individuals are excluded)

  2. Submit your importer/exporter code (IEC) The IEC is a code issued by the Indian Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to Indian companies that intend to export from India. You can apply for an IEC at the DGFT website. An IEC is required under certain conditions.

    • If you plan to accept Visa or Mastercard, an IEC is required only if you sell physical goods.
    • If you plan to accept AMEX international payments for all export transactions, including selling physical goods and services. This is described by India’s Foreign Trade Policy
  3. Specify a transaction purpose code. The transaction purpose code describes the nature of a payment received in foreign currency. The list of valid transaction purpose codes is maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). You must select the code which is closest to your product from the drop-down on the account application.

The list of transaction purpose codes supported by Stripe is copied below.

Opting in or updating export details after account activation

You may opt into the ability to present in non-INR currencies, change your IEC, if applicable, or change your transaction purpose code after the onboarding process at the Dashboard. Also, if needed, you may use the same IEC if you have multiple export businesses, as long as the IEC is in the name of a common beneficial owner of both businesses.

A Stripe account can only have a single transaction purpose code.

Valid charges

For every international payment presented in a non-INR currency to a customer holding a non-Indian card, you’ll need to send Stripe these additional fields. This is for regulatory reporting, required by our bank partner.

  • The buyer’s name
  • Their billing address with a valid 2-alphabet ISO-3166 country code
  • The charge description
  • If you sell physical goods (not services), a shipping address is also mandatory, with a valid 2-alphabet ISO-3166 code

Please see the code samples below to understand in which fields these items must be sent to Stripe.

Payouts

Funds collected from both domestic and international payments are paid out to you in INR separately by Stripe.

If you process both domestic and international payments, you may have two payouts on the same day, with an International label for the relevant payouts in your dashboard.

International payments for services

Every international payment for services is required to have the buyer’s name, billing address and a description of the service being exported.

This information is required by our financial partners.

Caution

If the buyer’s name, billing address or description isn’t provided, the payment will fail.

Pass the description of service in the Payment Intents API as shown below

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:"
\ -d amount=1099 \ -d currency=usd \ -d description="Software development services"

Pass the customer name and billing address in Customer Creation API as shown below

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:"
\ -d name="Jenny Rosen" \ -d "address[line1]"="510 Townsend St" \ -d "address[postal_code]"=98140 \ -d "address[city]"="San Francisco" \ -d "address[state]"=CA \ -d "address[country]"=US

That’s it! This payment has been declared as an export transaction.

International payments for goods

Every international payment for goods is required to have the buyer’s name, billing address, description and shipping address. This information is required by our financial partners.

This information is required by our financial partners.

Caution

If the buyer’s name, billing address, shipping address or description isn’t provided, the payment will fail.

Pass the description of the item and a shipping address in the Payment Intents API as shown below

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:"
\ -d description="Software development services" \ -d "shipping[name]"="Jenny Rosen" \ -d "shipping[address][line1]"="510 Townsend St" \ -d "shipping[address][postal_code]"=98140 \ -d "shipping[address][city]"="San Francisco" \ -d "shipping[address][state]"=CA \ -d "shipping[address][country]"=US \ -d amount=1099 \ -d currency=usd \ -d "payment_method_types[]"=card

Pass the customer name and billing address in Customer Creation API as shown below

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:"
\ -d name="Jenny Rosen" \ -d "address[line1]"="510 Townsend St" \ -d "address[postal_code]"=98140 \ -d "address[city]"="San Francisco" \ -d "address[state]"=CA \ -d "address[country]"=US

That’s it! This payment has been declared as an export transaction.

Fighting fraud

International card payments require 2-factor authentication via 3D Secure (3DS).

Learn more about the requirement for 3D Secure.

Accepting recurring international payments (Stripe Billing)

You can use Stripe Billing to bill your international customers via Subscriptions and Invoices.

For recurring international payments related to services, the only change you need is to provide a buyer’s name and an address.

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:"
\ -d name="Jenny Rosen" \ -d "address[line1]"="510 Townsend St" \ -d "address[postal_code]"=98140 \ -d "address[city]"="San Francisco" \ -d "address[state]"=CA \ -d "address[country]"=US

You don’t have to provide a description, because Stripe will generate one from the description on your invoice items. Therefore, you should ensure that the description on your invoice items accurately reflects your product:

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/invoiceitems \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:"
\ -d customer=cus_Ej0c314UoUXBgX \ -d amount=2500 \ -d currency=usd \ -d description="One-time setup fee"

For recurring international payments related to physical goods, please also provide a shipping address in the Customer Creation API.

Command Line
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:"
\ -d "shipping[name]"="Jenny Rosen" \ -d "shipping[address][line1]"="510 Townsend St" \ -d "shipping[address][postal_code]"=98140 \ -d "shipping[address][city]"="San Francisco" \ -d "shipping[address][state]"=CA \ -d "shipping[address][country]"=US

Recurring payments best practices

When selling to international customers, 3D Secure isn’t mandatory. You may notice a higher dispute rate than when you were selling to Indian customers.

We often see disputes from customers claiming that they were charged even after they canceled their subscription. Here are some best practices to avoid these disputes:

  • Make it clear on your signup page that your customers are agreeing to a recurring payment and include information about whether or not you plan to notify the customer before each payment. Make sure cancellation procedures are clearly communicated to your customers, and clearly state the window in which a subscription can be canceled. Include copies of these procedures in a visible terms of service page.
  • If offering a free or discounted trial period, be sure to clearly communicate the length of the trial and the date full price billing will occur. You should also clearly display the amount of the standard pricing above the payment button on your checkout page.
  • Cancel subscriptions within two business days of initial request, making sure to pass the cancellation along to Stripe if you use our subscription functionality. Per card network rules, you may also only make eight attempts per card after an initial decline, so be sure to close out any subscriptions that have already reached this limit. Provide your customer with a confirmation of the cancellation.
  • Have a clear way for customers to contact you if requesting cancellation. If customers have questions about their subscription, they’re more likely to submit a dispute if you’re difficult to reach. You can track your overall dispute activity under the Analytics section in your Dashboard.

Learn more about dispute prevention and common reasons why cardholders file disputes.

Monthly payment advice for export transactions

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) will issue payment advice directly to your registered Stripe email address the same day your export payout is being processed. This will include a list of export charges that are part of the specific export payout.

Transaction Purpose Code Listing

Below is a list of the supported Transaction Purpose Codes that you can currently select in onboarding. We can’t support other Transaction Purpose Codes due to the requirements from our financial partner.

CodeDescription
P0101Value of export bills negotiated / purchased/discounted etc. (covered under GR/PP/SOFTEX/EC copy of shipping bills etc.) – Other than Nepal and Bhutan.
P0102Realisation of export bills (in respect of goods) sent on collection (full invoice value) – Other than Nepal and Bhutan.
P0103Advance receipts against export contracts, which will be covered later by GR/PP/SOFTEX/SDF – other than Nepal and Bhutan.
P0104Receipts against export of goods not covered by the GR /PP /SOFTEX /EC copy of shipping bill etc. (under Intermediary/transit trade, i.e., third country export passing through India
P0105Export bills (in respect of goods) sent on collection – other than Nepal and Bhutan
P0107Realisation of NPD export bills (full value of bill to be reported) – other than Nepal and Bhutan
P0108Goods sold under merchanting / Receipt against export leg of merchanting trade
P0109Export realisation on account of exports to Nepal and Bhutan, if any
P0214Receipts on account of other transportation services (stevedoring, demurrage, port handling charges etc).(Shipping Companies)
P0215Receipts on account of other transportation services (stevedoring, demurrage, port handling charges etc).( Airlines companies)
P0216Receipts of freight fare -Shipping companies operating abroad
P0217Receipts of passenger fare by Indian Shipping companies operating abroad
P0218Other receipts by Shipping companies
P0219Receipts of freight fare by Indian Airlines companies operating abroad
P0220Receipts of passenger fare –Airlines
P0221Other receipts by Airlines companies
P0224Postal & Courier services by Air
P0225Postal & Courier services by Sea
P0226Postal & Courier services by others
P0301Purchases towards travel (Includes purchases of foreign TCs, currency notes etc over the counter, by hotels, Emporiums, institutions etc. as well as amount received by TT/SWIFT transfers or debit to Non-Resident account).
P0302Business travel
P0304Travel for medical treatment including TCs purchased by hospitals
P0305Travel for education including TCs purchased by educational institutions
P0306Other travel receipts
P0308Foreign Currencies/TCs surrendered by returning Indian tourists
P0501Receipts on account of services relating to cost of construction of projects in India.
P0601Life Insurance premium except term insurance.
P0602Freight insurance – relating to import & export of goods.
P0603Other general insurance premium including reinsurance premium; and term life insurance premium.
P0605Auxiliary services including commission on insurance.
P0607Insurance claim Settlement of non-life insurance; and life insurance (only term insurance).
P0608Life insurance claim settlements (excluding term insurance) received by residents in India
P0701Financial intermediation except investment banking – Bank charges, collection charges, LC charges, etc.
P0702Investment banking – brokerage, under writing commission etc..
P0703Auxiliary services – charges on operation & regulatory fees, custodial services, depository services etc..
P0801Hardware consultancy/implementation.
P0802Software consultancy/implementation (other than those covered in SOFTEX form).
P0803Data base, data processing charges.
P0804Repair and maintenance of computer and software.
P0805News agency services.
P0806Other information services - Subscription to newspapers, periodicals, etc.
P0807Off-site Software Exports
P0808Telecommunication services including electronic mail services and voice mail services
P0809Satellite services including space shuttle and rockets, etc.
P0901Franchises services
P0902Receipts for use, through licensing arrangements, of produced originals or prototypes (such as manuscripts and films), patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial processes, franchises etc.
P1002Trade related services - Commission on exports/imports.
P1004Legal services.
P1005Accounting, auditing, book keeping services.
P1006Business and management consultancy and public relations services.
P1007Advertising, trade fair service.
P1008Research & Development services.
P1009Architectural services.
P1010Agricultural services like protection against insects & disease, increasing of harvest yields, forestry services.
P1013Environmental services.
P1014Engineering Services.
P1015Tax consulting services.
P1016Market research and public opinion polling service.
P1017Publishing and printing services.
P1018Mining services like on–site processing services analysis of ores etc.
P1019Commission agent services.
P1020Wholesale and retailing trade services.
P1022Other Technical Services including scientific/space services.
P1101Audio-visual and related services like Motion picture and video tape production, distribution and projection services.
P1103Radio and television production, distribution and transmission services
P1104Entertainment services
P1105Museums, library and archival services
P1106Recreation and sporting activity services
P1107Educational services (e.g. fees received for correspondence courses offered to non-resident by Indian institutions)
P1108Health Service (Receipts on account of services provided by Indian hospitals, doctors, nurses, paramedical and similar services etc. rendered remotely or on-site)
P1109Other Personal, Cultural & Recreational services
P1301Inward remittance from Indian nonresidents towards family maintenance and savings.
P1302Personal gifts and donations .
P1303Donations to religious and charitable institutions in India.
P1304Grants and donations to governments and charitable institutions established by the governments.
P1306Receipts / Refund of taxes.
P1505Deemed Exports (exports between SEZ, EPZs and Domestic Tariff Areas)
P1701Receipts on account of processing of goods
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On this page
Onboarding
International payments for services
International payments for goods
Fighting fraud
Accepting recurring international payments (Stripe Billing)
Monthly payment advice for export transactions
Transaction Purpose Code Listing
Products Used
Payments
Billing
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