India’s cross-border payments ecosystem has undergone a remarkable transformation as the nation solidifies its position as a global digital payments powerhouse. With India receiving a record-breaking $135.46 billion in remittance inflows in fiscal year 2025 and outward payment flows surging by 17 percent year-on-year, the demand for efficient, transparent, and compliant cross-border payment solutions has never been greater. Indian startups are stepping up to fill this gap, leveraging cutting-edge technology including artificial intelligence, blockchain, and real-time payment rails to revolutionize how businesses and individuals move money across borders.
The Indian cross-border payments market is projected to reach $250 trillion globally by 2027, growing at a steady 5 percent annually from its 2024 baseline of $194 trillion. This explosive growth is fueled by the expanding digital economy, the rise of software-as-a-service companies, the boom in ecommerce exports, and India’s increasing integration with global markets. Traditional cross-border payment methods involving multiple intermediaries, extended processing times, and opaque fee structures are rapidly being displaced by innovative fintech solutions that offer same-day settlements, zero foreign exchange markups, and automated compliance.
The regulatory landscape has evolved significantly as well. The Reserve Bank of India introduced the Payment Aggregator-Cross Border framework in October 2023, replacing the older Online Payment Gateway Service Provider system with stricter eligibility requirements including a minimum net worth threshold of 15 crore rupees at application, increasing to 25 crore rupees by March 2026. This regulatory clarity has created a conducive environment for startups to innovate while maintaining compliance with anti-money laundering and know-your-customer requirements.
1. Skydo
Founded in 2022 by Movin Jain, formerly with PhonePe, and Srivatsan Sridhar, previously with Ola and McKinsey, Skydo has rapidly emerged as a leading force in India’s cross-border payments landscape. The Bengaluru-based startup offers a business-to-business cross-border payments platform that enables Indian businesses to receive international payments efficiently through virtual foreign accounts, simplified forex processes, and quick Indian rupee conversion along with free Foreign Inward Remittance Certificates.
Skydo’s artificial intelligence-powered infrastructure stands out for its sophisticated compliance automation. The platform streamlines know-your-customer and know-your-business compliance by automatically extracting data from bank statements, validating business registration documents, and processing export-import contracts, reducing manual verification time from hours to minutes. The startup has developed an artificial intelligence-powered risk engine for detecting anomalous transactions and flagging suspicious patterns, achieving 95 percent accuracy while minimizing false positives.
The platform currently works with more than 30,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises, freelancers, and startups across over 50 cities, processing payments in 32 currencies. In January 2025, Skydo received in-principle authorization from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a payment aggregator cross-border entity and secured Payment Service Provider approval from Amazon for its Global Selling program. In December 2025, the startup raised 10 million dollars in Series A funding led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital, bringing its total funding to 20 million dollars. Skydo aims to achieve 5 billion dollars in annualized payment volume within two years.
The company’s tiered flat-fee structure charges 19 dollars for payments up to 2,000 dollars, 29 dollars for payments between 2,001 and 10,000 dollars, and 0.3 percent for amounts above 10,000 dollars, with zero forex markup on all transactions. This transparent pricing model has made it particularly attractive to Indian exporters, SaaS companies, and freelancers who previously struggled with hidden fees and unpredictable currency conversion costs.
2. PayGlocal
Founded in 2021 by former Visa executives Prachi Dharani, Rohit Sukhija, and Yogesh Lokhande, PayGlocal is a Bengaluru-based global payments company that enables merchants to accept payments from global customers in the currency of their choice using their own credit and debit cards. The company has positioned itself as a comprehensive solution for cross-border business and global commerce for the Indian ecosystem.
PayGlocal’s suite of offerings addresses cross-border payment challenges through three main pillars: the business infrastructure, the customer experience, and risk management. The platform has partnered with both private and public sector banks to accept international payments in over 100 currencies, making it one of the most versatile multi-currency solutions in the Indian market.
The startup has raised 17 million dollars over two rounds from prominent investors including Peak XV Partners and Tiger Global Management, with a current valuation of 864 crore rupees. As of August 2025, PayGlocal employs 116 people and reported an annual revenue of 31.7 crore rupees for the fiscal year ending March 2025. The company’s solutions cater to freelancers, goods exporters, and service exporters, offering checkout flows, alternate payment methods, recurring payments, and card payments with robust security measures including browser encryption, strong authentication, and data protection.
PayGlocal has successfully boosted payment success rates for its clients, with notable achievements including improving Codeyoung’s payment success rate to 95 percent. The platform’s focus on local payment methods and seamless integration has made it particularly popular among ecommerce businesses and online service providers looking to expand their global customer base.
3. Xflow
Xflow, founded in 2021 by Anand Balaji, Ashwin Bhatnagar, and Abhijit Chandrasekaran, is a Bengaluru-based technology company that builds cross-border payment infrastructure to help businesses send and receive money globally in a simple, reliable, transparent, and compliant way. The platform is built primarily for developers, enabling cross-border payments for startups, growth companies, payment aggregators, and enterprises alike.
Xflow’s artificial intelligence-powered FX analyst is one of its standout features. The engine analyzes hundreds of economic indicators, thousands of news headlines, and foreign exchange market trends to deliver clear, actionable insights in human-readable form. This allows businesses to set their own target foreign exchange rates and maximize earnings on every dollar, removing guesswork and empowering smarter, data-backed financial decisions.
The platform has raised 16.2 million dollars over two rounds from prominent investors including Stripe, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed India. In July 2025, Xflow secured in-principle authorization from the Reserve Bank of India for its cross-border payment aggregator license, significantly strengthening its position in the market as a full-stack cross-border payments platform with the ability to support both export and import workflows.
Xflow provides receiving accounts in major global currencies so customers can pay using local bank transfers like Automated Clearing House, Single Euro Payments Area, Fedwire, or Real-Time Payments. These local rails are faster, cheaper, and more reliable than SWIFT transfers. The platform offers next-day settlements, automatically issued electronic Foreign Inward Remittance Advice, and comes with a built-in invoicing tool that embeds global payment instructions directly into invoices. Businesses can customize templates with their brand, track overdue payments, and send reminders.
4. BRISKPE
Founded in January 2023 by former bankers Sanjay Tripathy, Nilesh Pathak, and Indunath Chaudhury, BRISKPE is a Mumbai-based startup that simplifies cross-border transactions for micro, small, and medium enterprises. The platform allows businesses to sign up, link their Indian bank accounts, and raise invoices with automated payment tracking and communication, with money credited to Indian bank accounts within one day.
BRISKPE harnesses artificial intelligence to reimagine cross-border payments for Indian micro, small, and medium enterprises, making them faster, safer, and more affordable than traditional methods. The platform supports multiple payment modes including account-to-account, card, and wallet-based collections, all backed by artificial intelligence-driven compliance, advanced fraud detection, and real-time tracking. With instant know-your-customer verification and dynamic risk profiling, BRISKPE removes friction while ensuring security.
The startup raised 5 million dollars in seed funding from PayU and Prosus in 2024, with a current valuation of 138 crore rupees. As of January 2025, BRISKPE employs 55 people and operates under the Reserve Bank of India’s Online Payment Gateway Service Provider framework. The company holds a Money Service Business license in Canada and has collaborated with YES Bank for processing payments. In December 2025, BRISKPE received authorization from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a Payment Aggregator for Cross-Border Payments.
The platform’s focus on micro, small, and medium enterprises sets it apart, addressing the unique challenges faced by smaller businesses that often find themselves underserved by traditional payment solutions. BRISKPE’s instant know-your-customer and dynamic risk profiling capabilities enable it to serve businesses that might otherwise struggle to access efficient cross-border payment infrastructure.
5. Infinity
Infinity, a Y Combinator-backed cross-border payment platform founded by siblings Sourav and Saurabh Choraria, aims to transform cross-border transactions for Indian small and medium-sized businesses. The Bengaluru-based startup’s banking and payments platform offers international money transfers that are reportedly 70 percent cheaper than traditional methods, while also letting businesses earn income on idle cash by investing in government securities.
Infinity’s platform is built for a wide range of businesses, from SaaS startups managing payouts to companies sending vendor payments internationally. The company charges a single 0.5 percent flat fee, inclusive of all costs across all invoice sizes, with zero foreign exchange markup, making it particularly attractive for smaller, frequent payouts. The platform offers instant Foreign Inward Remittance Advice and Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate with every withdrawal and provides real-time forex rates.
With over 250 exporters already on board as of early 2025, Infinity is exploring additional features including investment solutions for idle cash. The startup raised 1.9 million dollars in December 2024, making it one of the most recent companies in the space to secure funding. Infinity provides Indian freelancers and exporters with virtual local accounts in key countries, allowing clients to send money to what appears as a regional bank account in their country.
The platform is particularly well-suited for freelancers working with platforms like Upwork and Deel, although it supports other business types as well. Infinity’s focus on smaller invoice sizes under 3,800 dollars, where its 0.5 percent flat rate works better economically than tiered pricing models, has helped it carve out a distinct niche in the competitive cross-border payments landscape.
6. Razorpay International Payments
While Razorpay was established in 2014 by Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur and is known primarily for its domestic payment solutions, its International Payments division has emerged as a significant player in cross-border transactions. In December 2025, Razorpay received the Payment Aggregator-Cross Border license from the Reserve Bank of India, joining a select group of fintech companies officially allowed to handle both inward and outward cross-border transactions under full regulatory supervision.
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Razorpay’s International Payments platform is structured to mirror the movement of funds in a digital-first, global economy. Indian businesses can receive payments in more than 130 currencies through commonly used channels such as wallets, cards, and local bank transfers. The platform achieves 95 percent success rates on international transactions through optimized payment flows. International platforms can start operating in India instantly without creating a local entity, with access to UPI, RuPay, EMIs, and netbanking through a single integration.
Leading international brands such as Airbnb, Agoda, Klook, Shopify, and Hostinger rely on Razorpay for payment services. The platform provides export-specific accounts with competitive forex rates and ensures compliance with Indian regulations, simplifying cross-border operations. Razorpay charges transparent pricing of up to 3 percent for card transactions and 1 percent for Export Account transfers.
Razorpay has steadily strengthened its international playbook, integrating with Apple Pay to enable international payments for Indian businesses, introducing zero-forex-markup support for sellers on the Amazon Global Selling platform, and partnering with NPCI International to facilitate UPI payments in Malaysia. The company has raised over 740 million dollars since its inception and counts Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, and Lightspeed among its investors. Razorpay is planning for an initial public offering in India, potentially by late 2026 to 2027.
7. Karbon Business
Karbon Business provides exporters and startups with comprehensive cross-border payment support and invoice discounting services. The platform delivers Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate compliance and has positioned itself as a solution particularly suited for larger exporters who need not just payment processing but also working capital solutions.
The platform charges approximately 1 percent on transactions, which is higher than some competitors but includes bundled services like invoice discounting that can help businesses manage cash flow more effectively. Karbon Business currently supports US dollar transactions for inward payments, which can be a limitation for clients in non-US countries but reflects the platform’s strategic focus on the largest single corridor for Indian cross-border payments.
Karbon Business has established itself as a trusted partner for established exporters who value the combination of payment processing and financing solutions. The platform’s invoice discounting feature allows businesses to unlock capital tied up in outstanding invoices, providing immediate liquidity rather than waiting for payment terms to complete. This integrated approach to payments and working capital has made Karbon Business particularly attractive to growing exporters who need both efficient payment rails and access to growth capital.
8. EximPe
EximPe is a Reserve Bank of India-authorized export finance platform that assists with Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate generation and supports receiving payments in major currencies. The platform has positioned itself specifically for exporters, importers, and cross-border ecommerce businesses, offering global collection accounts in over 30 currencies that allow clients to pay using their local payment methods.
The platform provides instant digital Foreign Inward Remittance Advice documentation, eliminating typical waiting periods that can delay accounting and compliance processes. EximPe offers forex conversion without additional markup, potentially saving money on currency exchange compared to traditional banking channels. The transaction fee model includes 0.75 percent plus additional bank collection fees that vary by payment method.
EximPe streamlines Bill of Entry and Shipping Bill regularization online and generates electronic Bill of Reference Certificates effortlessly, addressing pain points that have traditionally made export compliance cumbersome for small and medium businesses. The platform is trusted by over 10,000 exporters worldwide, reflecting its strong adoption among businesses engaged in international trade.
While EximPe’s monthly pricing option may not be cost-effective for businesses with irregular payment patterns, its comprehensive suite of export-focused features and compliance automation makes it attractive for businesses with regular cross-border transaction volumes. The platform’s focus on export documentation and finance sets it apart from pure payment processing solutions.
9. Cashfree Payments
Cashfree Payments has evolved from a payment gateway into a full-fledged orchestration provider with an expanding suite of application programming interfaces for cross-border transactions. While the company serves both domestic and international payment needs, its cross-border capabilities have grown significantly, enabling businesses to connect multiple acquirers, optimize routing, and access features like instant refunds, disbursements, and recurring billing.
Cashfree’s localized integrations with UPI and major Indian banks, combined with its international payment acceptance capabilities, make it one of the most convenient orchestration choices for businesses operating both domestically and internationally. The platform provides deep integrations with Indian acquirers and banks, fast payouts, and application programming interface-driven orchestration with advanced fraud prevention and reconciliation tools.
The company received Payment Aggregator-Cross Border authorization from the Reserve Bank of India, allowing it to facilitate cross-border transactions under regulatory supervision. Cashfree’s strength lies in its ability to serve ecommerce, SaaS, and subscription businesses with a unified platform that handles both domestic and international payment needs without requiring separate integrations.
Cashfree’s orchestration capabilities enable businesses to automatically route transactions through the most cost-effective and reliable payment channels, improving authorization rates while reducing transaction costs. This intelligent routing, combined with comprehensive compliance management, makes Cashfree particularly attractive to scaling businesses that need robust payment infrastructure.
10. Salt
Salt is a platform that aims to simplify and streamline cross-border payments for businesses with a focus on removing complexity from international transactions. While less prominent than some of its larger competitors, Salt has established itself as a viable option for businesses seeking straightforward cross-border payment solutions without the need for extensive technical integration.
The platform provides multi-currency support and compliance management features designed to make international payments more accessible to small and medium businesses. Salt’s approach emphasizes ease of use and transparency, targeting businesses that may be newer to cross-border commerce and need intuitive solutions rather than developer-heavy application programming interface integrations.
Salt competes in a crowded market by focusing on user experience and simplifying the onboarding process for businesses that might otherwise be overwhelmed by the technical requirements and compliance complexities of cross-border payments. While the platform may not offer the same depth of features as some larger competitors, its streamlined approach has found resonance with businesses prioritizing simplicity over extensive customization.
The Evolving Regulatory Landscape
The regulatory framework governing cross-border payments in India has undergone significant evolution, creating both opportunities and challenges for startups in this space. The Reserve Bank of India’s Payment Aggregator-Cross Border framework, introduced in October 2023, mandates direct regulation of cross-border payment aggregators, requiring registration with the Financial Intelligence Unit-India and a minimum net worth of 15 crore rupees at application, rising to 25 crore rupees by March 2026.
This increased regulatory scrutiny is expected to spur mergers and acquisitions, with projections suggesting that 5 to 10 fintechs may merge or exit the market. Payment Aggregator-Cross Border license holders are expected to gain a competitive edge, potentially processing 30 percent of cross-border flows by 2027. The regulatory evolution aims to balance innovation with stability, ensuring that the rapid growth of cross-border payment fintechs does not compromise financial system integrity or consumer protection.
The Reserve Bank of India’s participation in Project Nexus, a Bank for International Settlements initiative linking ASEAN and Indian payment systems, aims to create a multilateral payment network by 2026. Bilateral agreements with countries like Singapore and the United Arab Emirates further UPI’s global integration, creating new opportunities for Indian payment startups to facilitate real-time, low-cost international transactions.
Technology Trends Shaping the Future
Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly central role in cross-border payments, with the global artificial intelligence in fintech market projected to grow from 14.13 billion dollars in 2024 to 17.79 billion dollars in 2025. Platforms like Skydo, Xflow, and BRISKPE are integrating artificial intelligence for predictive analytics, cost optimization, fraud prevention, and compliance automation. This technology reduces manual intervention, improves accuracy, and enables real-time decision-making in complex cross-border transactions.
Blockchain and Web3 adoption is expected to accelerate, with blockchain-based remittances projected to capture 10 to 15 percent of the market by 2027. Fintechs leveraging distributed ledger technology will increasingly dominate small and medium business and freelance payments, offering faster settlements and lower costs than traditional banking channels. India is expected to host over 500 blockchain firms by 2026, creating a robust ecosystem for innovation in this space.
UPI’s global dominance continues to expand, with linkages to over 10 countries expected by 2026 via Project Nexus and bilateral agreements. This will enable real-time, low-cost payments across borders, with platforms like Skydo, PayGlocal, and Xflow leading adoption and boosting small and medium business competitiveness in global trade. The integration of Indian payment systems with international counterparts represents a fundamental shift toward interoperable, instant cross-border payments.
Conclusion
India’s cross-border payment startup ecosystem represents one of the most dynamic and innovative segments of the country’s fintech revolution. These ten startups, each with distinct approaches and target markets, are collectively transforming how Indian businesses and individuals engage with the global economy. From artificial intelligence-powered compliance automation to zero foreign exchange markup pricing and instant settlement capabilities, these platforms are eliminating the friction that has historically made cross-border payments expensive, slow, and opaque.
As India’s remittance market approaches 100 billion dollars by 2027 and trade payments grow with rising exports, the opportunities for these startups will continue to expand. The regulatory clarity provided by the Reserve Bank of India, combined with technological innovation and growing global integration, positions India’s cross-border payment startups for sustained growth and increasing global relevance. Whether serving freelancers, small businesses, or large exporters, these platforms are building the financial infrastructure that will enable the next generation of global Indian businesses.
