Best payment gateways for your website in India

If you’re doing business online in India, you’ve probably come across quite a few names in payment gateways. From SBI, PayTM, Instamojo and more it can sometimes be hard to keep them all straight.

A payment gateway is a platform that connects customers and merchants for their payments. The platform can sometimes be another site the customer is redirected to to make the payment or can be built into the merchant website. Typically the payment gateway takes a single-digit percentage of the transaction for providing its services. And depending on the company, the merchant can get the settlement within a day or weekly.

The big differentiator between different payment gateways is the number of payment methods it offers and fees. In India, that can range from normal debit/credit cards to eWallets, UPI and BharatQR. And then, of course, are the fees. Different companies will charge different percentages and sometimes also have set up and monthly fees.

To make things easier for you, we have broken down some of the best payment gateways in India. Read on to learn what are the payment gateways out there and if they can help make online payments easier for your business.

PayTM payment gateway

India’s largest mobile payments platform, PayTM, offers a large and diverse portfolio of payment methods for Indians, whether in Tier 1 or Tier 4 cities

Choose between 3 different plans to find the one that best fits you Settlements to merchants happen next day or instantly Can be integrated into a website or mobile app

Since many Indians use their PayTM wallet for bill payments or movie tickets, PayTM can feel like a no-brainer as a payment gateway as well. It can pull directly from a PayTM wallet, but also seamlessly offers UPI, debit/credit, net banking, and EMI options. Depending on the size of your company, you can choose the Starter, Standard or Enterprise payment gateway plan.

While the first plan has 0% transaction charges, it is capped at accepting payments at ₹20,000 per month¹. While the Enterprise has higher transaction charges but no maximum on monthly payments coming in. PayTM also offers an easy instant refund option for select merchants.

Instamojo payment gateway

The Bangalore-born Instamojo offers payment options to cover all, if not most, of India and provides low fee transaction charges.

Free to set up an account and no minimum required The maximum you can collect in one transaction is 1 lakh Works with over 800,000 Indian businesses across 29 states

Instamojo currently has over 10 million customers using its platform and the company is also expanding into additional business services like loans, marketing, and tax services². For the payment gateway, while there are no fees upfront or to have an account, you do have to pay a fee on every transaction that goes through Instamojo.

NEFT/RTGS and bank transfers are free, while most other options have a fee of 2% + ₹3 Per Transaction³. This amount is deducted from the paying amount. If you are looking for international payment options, Instamojo is only able to show amounts in rupees to foreign customers. Instamojo is a solid option when looking for payment gateways in India for domestic customers especially.

Atom payment gateway

This India focused payment gateway has been in the market since 2006, but merchants may find it loaded with fees and not as dynamic as the competition

There are 256+ payment options, including 50+ Indian banks but there is no flat fee Payment settlement happens within 2 working days There are a one-time integration charge and an annual software up-gradation charge

Atom payment gateway offers Indian businesses an ecosystem for payments. They work with 150,000 clients across all their services and have seen more than 150 million transactions on their platform⁴. They have two pricing options- one is Standard pricing which most businesses will fall under. But if you are a business with large volume transactions than you can look at the customizable package too.

The fees charged depend on whether a credit card, debit card, IMPS, e-Wallet or other methods are used. So there is no simple flat fee charged across all of them. Plus, there are the annual charges and an integration charge of ₹1,955 to pay⁵. While Atom continues to provide its services, the fees can start to add up and get confusing.

Billdesk payment gateway

BillDesk, with its history of bill collections in India, is best suited for Indian companies that have consistent, recurring, monthly payments.

Been in the business for close to 20 years There is a maximum of ₹10,000 on any one transaction If you have any international payments, BillDesk may not be the best choice for your business

BillDesk is a viable platform for bill payment collections in India. It processes a large amount of online and mobile payments that are conducted through aggregator platforms. You can get set up as a partner and sign on to have your bills to customers be sent through the BillDesk platform. The company doesn’t share its pricing online so it is unclear how much you will be charged as a partner. If you are a freelancer, a startup or have a business with flexible and varied payments, this is not the payment gateway for you.⁶

SBI payment gateway

State Bank of India moved into online payments with its payment gateway for merchants, but modern businesses may find they need more than what SBI can offer

Only available to those with an SBI bank account There are varying fees depending on the payment option used Businesses can find SBI lacking in additional payment services

State Bank of India is one of India’s largest legacy banks and has recently launched SBIePay as a domestic payment gateway. Although limited to merchants with accounts at SBI, the SBIePay platform can be found to be quite low cost. However, many flexible payment options that are used across the country like eWallets, UPI and PayTM are not available on the platform. Similarly, it is unclear whether international payments are allowed on the gateway. If you are looking for a modern, technology-first and seamless way for customers to do payments, you may want to look at other options.⁷

HDFC payment gateway

A well known and popular bank in India, HDFC, has extensive offerings for merchants that want to do business online

HDFC has Real-time payment settlement There is a monthly usage charge depending on the volume of transactions HDFC accepts 16 international currencies and is MasterCard/Visa compliant

HDFC has an attractive offer for merchants that want to use its payment gateway. What is unique is that you can get a customized payment gateway for your specific type of business. So depending on if you are an e-commerce shop or NGO, you can have a plan that works for your business.

The charges for transactions depend on which plan you go with and your transaction volume. There is also a one-time integration fee and annual maintenance charges. The monthly usage charge decreases the larger your volume of transactions get. You also get a relationship manager with your account at the bank. Plus, HDFC offers point-of-sale and mobile payment options to make it easier for you to do business.⁸

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Sources used for this article

1. PayTM Pricing
2. Instamojo Payment Gateway
3. Instamojo Pricing
4. Atom Payment Gateway
5. Atom Payment Gateway Fees
6. BillDesk
7. SBIePay
8. HDFC Payment Gateway Services

All sources checked as of 24 September, 2019