Payment Gateway for Website in India: How to Choose

Quick answer: Razorpay, Cashfree and PayU all take UPI, cards, net banking and wallets on Indian websites, while Stripe has accepted new Indian businesses only by invitation since 2024. Choose on how well the gateway plugs into your platform, how fast it settles and whether your site will pass its KYC review, then compare live pricing against your own payment mix.

Most business owners choose a payment gateway by its headline fee. The problems tend to start somewhere else: an activation request bounced because the site has no refund policy, a plugin that marks orders as paid before the money arrives, or a mobile checkout that asks customers to type a UPI ID instead of opening their UPI app. This guide looks at the choice from the website's side, where those problems live.

What does a payment gateway do on a business website?

It collects the customer's payment, tells your website whether it succeeded and settles the money into your bank account, minus fees. In India, the providers most businesses mean by "gateway" are payment aggregators regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, which expects them to carry out due diligence on every merchant they onboard. That's why they inspect your website before switching you on.

A good gateway setup handles:

• Payment methods: UPI, debit and credit cards, net banking, wallets, and often EMI or pay-later options
• Confirmation: webhooks that tell your site a payment really succeeded, even if the customer closed the tab
• Refunds: full or partial, ideally triggered from your store's admin
• Payment links and pages: for orders taken over phone or WhatsApp
• Recurring payments: subscriptions and memberships under RBI's e-mandate rules
• Reporting: settlements you can reconcile against orders and invoices

How do Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU and Stripe compare for Indian businesses?

All four are capable; the differences show up in onboarding, integrations and extras rather than in whether a UPI payment goes through. Treat the table as a starting shortlist, then check each provider's documentation and live pricing page, because features and fees change more often than blog tables do.

Other names such as CCAvenue, Easebuzz and banks' own gateways are worth a look if your accountant or bank recommends them. If you're building recurring billing for a software product rather than a store, our comparison of subscription billing for SaaS covers mandates and tax handling in more depth.

What documents and website pages do you need to pass KYC?

Expect to supply identity and business documents, and expect a reviewer to open your website and look for real policies, real prices and real contact details. The website review is the part most applicants underestimate.

Documents gateways commonly ask for, depending on your business type:

• PAN of the business, or of the proprietor for a sole proprietorship
• Bank account proof in the business's name, such as a cancelled cheque or statement
• Business proof: GST certificate, Udyam registration or shop and establishment licence
• ID and address proof of the authorised signatory
• Incorporation documents for companies and LLPs, or a partnership deed

Pages to have live before you apply. Razorpay's business website documentation lists contact us, terms and conditions, privacy policy, cancellation and refunds, shipping policy and pricing details, and other gateways look for much the same:

• Contact page with a real phone number, email and business address
• Terms and conditions written for your business, not copied from another site
• Privacy policy explaining what you collect and why
• Cancellation and refund policy with clear timelines
• Shipping or delivery policy, even for services, stating how and when customers receive what they pay for
• Visible prices on product or service pages
• Business name on the site matching your KYC documents
• A finished site on your own domain, not a "coming soon" page

If your current site is missing several of these, fixing them is usually a modest job. Our guide to website cost in India shows what a properly scoped build should include.

How do transaction fees and settlement times differ?

Pricing is set per payment method, so your real cost depends on how your customers pay, not on the advertised starting rate. Settlement speed matters just as much for cash flow.

What drives the number:

• Method mix. UPI, debit cards, credit cards, net banking, wallets, corporate cards and international cards are each priced differently, and UPI is shaped by government rules on merchant charges.
• GST on fees. The gateway's own fee attracts 18% GST, which you can usually claim as input tax credit if you're registered.
• Plan type. Standard plans charge per transaction; some providers add set-up or annual fees, and high-volume businesses can negotiate.
• Settlement cycle. Standard settlement typically takes a few working days, faster or instant settlement is often sold as an add-on, and international payments generally settle slower.
• Reserves. Higher-risk categories may have part of each settlement held back for a period.

To compare fairly, take the last three months of orders, split them by payment method and price that exact mix on each provider's live pricing page. Add fixed fees and GST, then weigh the result against settlement speed and plugin quality. A small rate difference rarely outweighs a checkout that fails.

Which gateway works best with WordPress, Shopify or a custom site?

Choose the gateway whose integration for your platform is actively maintained and supports webhooks, refunds and UPI intent; that matters more than brand.

• WordPress with WooCommerce. Razorpay, Cashfree and PayU all publish plugins. Check when each was last updated, whether it confirms orders by webhook, and whether you can refund from the WooCommerce dashboard.
• Shopify. Shopify Payments isn't offered in India, so Indian stores pick a third-party provider from the Shopify admin. Depending on your plan, Shopify may add its own transaction fee on top of the gateway's charges. Our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce in India sets out the running costs side by side.
• Custom builds. Use the provider's server-side SDK: create the order on your server, verify the payment signature, confirm through webhooks and make the handler safe to run twice. This is where checkout bugs hide, so test it with real small payments.

For shops still deciding how far to go with online selling, our guide to online stores for retail shops covers when a full checkout is worth building. We handle ecommerce and checkout builds on all three platforms.

How do you design checkout so payments don't fail?

Make the payment step short, mobile-first and honest about what's happening, and never treat a browser redirect as proof of payment. Use this as a launch checklist:

1. Use UPI intent on mobile so customers tap their own UPI app; show a QR code on desktop.
2. Ask only for what you need. Every extra field is another chance to abandon.
3. Show the full total, including GST and delivery, before the payment step.
4. Treat "pending" as pending. Some UPI payments take a while to confirm, so don't cancel the order too early.
5. Confirm orders by webhook from the gateway, not by the customer returning to your site.
6. Offer a retry with a different method on failure, keeping the cart intact.
7. Write failure messages in plain language, saying what happened and whether money left the account.
8. Send confirmation by email, SMS or WhatsApp as soon as payment clears.
9. Test on real phones with low-value live payments before launch.

Frequently asked questions

Which payment gateway is cheapest in India?

There's no single answer, because each provider prices payment methods differently and changes its rates over time. Price your own recent orders on each provider's live pricing page, add fixed fees and GST, and compare the totals. Reliability and settlement speed usually matter more than a small difference in rate.

Can I accept international payments on my Indian website?

Usually yes, but it's a separate activation with extra checks. Expect to explain what you sell abroad, show international shipping or delivery terms on your site, and keep export paperwork in order. Talk to your CA about how foreign receipts are documented for GST and foreign exchange purposes.

Why do payment gateways reject websites during KYC?

The usual reasons are missing or copied policy pages, no visible prices, a business name that doesn't match the documents, an unfinished site, or a product category the gateway doesn't support. Fix the site, then reapply with a short note explaining the changes.

Do I need GST registration to get a payment gateway?

Not always. Many gateways onboard unregistered sole proprietors using PAN and bank details, sometimes with limits on features or volumes. Whether you must register for GST depends on your turnover and whether you sell across state lines, not on the gateway, so check with your CA.

Can I accept UPI on my website without a payment gateway?

You can display a UPI ID or static QR code, but nothing tells your website when a payment arrives. You'll match payments to orders by hand, and screenshots can be faked. That's workable for a handful of orders; beyond that, a gateway with automatic confirmation is safer.

Get payments working first time

A failed activation or a buggy plugin can hold up a launch by weeks. We set up policy pages, gateway integrations and tested checkouts as part of a fixed-price build, quoted after a short call and usually returned within a business day. You can get help setting up payments through our enquiry form, or book a call to walk through your checkout.