A practical guide to setting up clean, compliant and efficient international payment flows.
Exporters in India, whether small service providers or full scale digital businesses, often struggle with configuring payment gateways and payout settings for foreign customers. The challenge comes from the fact that India’s payment landscape has two very different layers. Domestic payments operate in INR with simple settlement rules. International payments must follow FEMA regulations, purpose code mapping, currency conversion rules and inward remittance documentation.
To set up a clean and predictable system, exporters must configure both their payment gateway and their payout currency settings carefully. This guide explains how that configuration works, what Indian exporters must consider and how to avoid the hidden issues that often create payout delays or revenue loss.
Understand the Difference Between Domestic INR Processing and Export Payments
Most Indian payment gateways are built to process domestic INR payments. They connect to UPI, netbanking, wallets and Indian card networks. These systems work well for Indian customers but are not automatically suited for foreign clients.
Export payments require more elements:
- Foreign card acceptance or foreign account to account collection
- Foreign currency processing
- Correct purpose code classification
- Conversion into INR through authorised channels
- Inward remittance documentation for compliance
If you rely on a gateway designed only for INR, configuring export transactions becomes complicated and involves high fees.
Step 1: Check Whether the Gateway Supports International Payments
Before configuring anything, confirm whether your gateway can accept payments from outside India. Key checks include:
- Whether the gateway supports international cards
- Whether foreign currency acceptance is available
- Whether purpose codes are mapped for each transaction
- Whether foreign settlements follow RBI guidelines
- Whether large value invoices are allowed for cross border clients
Not all gateways offer these capabilities by default. Some activate international payments only after a full KYC verification and detailed business review.
Step 2: Configure Accepted Currencies Based on Your Export Markets
Exporters must decide which currencies they want to accept. This depends on the geographies from which payments are expected.
Common choices include: US dollar, euro, pound sterling, Australian dollar, Singapore dollar and Canadian dollar.
Accepting the currency that the client prefers reduces friction and avoids unnecessary conversions before the money reaches the Indian system.
Evaluation Point: Some gateways allow currency selection at the checkout level. Others force the conversion into INR immediately, which may reduce your earnings due to markup. This is an important point to evaluate when configuring your account.
Step 3: Set Up Payout Currency Options Carefully
For Indian exporters, the payout currency is almost always INR because local banks settle inward remittances in Indian rupees. However, the key difference lies in how the conversion takes place.
There are two main models:
- Immediate conversion at the gateway
- Collection in foreign currency followed by conversion at settlement
Immediate conversion usually reduces transparency because the gateway controls the exchange rate and may apply a markup. The second model is usually more transparent because conversion happens closer to settlement and often uses live interbank rates.
When configuring payout settings, exporters should ask:
- Who controls the FX rate
- Whether the conversion markup is disclosed
- Whether the payout is tied to a percentage fee or a flat fee
- Whether the settlement time is predictable
Making the right choice here has a direct impact on take home INR.
Step 4: Configure Compliance Information Properly
Every foreign payment entering India must be classified with a purpose code. During configuration, exporters must ensure:
- The correct purpose code is selected for their industry
- Invoices clearly match the type of service exported
- The gateway or platform supports automatic purpose code mapping
- Inward remittance documentation will be issued for each payout
Incorrect purpose codes or mismatched invoices are a common cause of payout delays.
Step 5: Configure Chargeback and Risk Management Settings
Exporters dealing with foreign card payments face higher chargeback risk. During setup, consider:
- Whether the gateway allows disabling high risk payment modes
- Whether fraud scoring or pre screening tools are available
- Whether card verification steps can be enabled
- Whether chargeback liability is clear in the agreement
These steps improve security and prevent unexpected deductions or fund holds.
Step 6: Configure Payment Workflows Based on Client Preference
Exporters should configure their gateway or platform according to how their clients prefer to pay:
- For clients who prefer paying via card, configure an international card enabled checkout.
- For clients used to bank transfers or SWIFT, configure a foreign currency account setup.
- For recurring clients, configure subscription billing or link based invoicing.
A flexible configuration improves payment conversion rates.
Why Exporters Increasingly Use India Focused Cross Border Platforms
Most traditional gateways are designed for card commerce. Exporters, however, often collect high value invoices for services. Card based systems create issues:
- Higher transaction fees
- Currency conversion markup
- Slower settlements
- Chargeback exposure
India focused cross border platforms take a different approach by supplying virtual foreign currency accounts and converting at live rates. This reduces markup loss, cuts fees and simplifies configuration because exporters do not need to manage complex international card settings.
How BRISKPE Fits Into This Setup
BRISKPE allows exporters to configure foreign currency collection through virtual accounts rather than relying on global card networks. The configuration process includes selecting supported currencies, verifying the business type and ensuring purpose code compliance.
Once configured, exporters receive foreign payments in USD, EUR, GBP and other currencies with conversion at live rates and predictable INR settlements. This eliminates the need for heavy configuration within traditional card gateways and reduces the operational steps required to maintain compliance under FEMA and RBI norms.
Final Thoughts
Configuring a payment gateway and payout currency setup for exporters in India requires understanding both technology and compliance. Exporters must choose the right currencies, ensure purpose code alignment, manage FX considerations and set up risk controls.
Domestic gateways offer convenience for INR transactions but may not optimise revenue for international clients. Export oriented platforms simplify this configuration and help Indian businesses receive foreign payments with higher efficiency and clarity.
