Plan ref: Blogs Bucket 1, #3 | Target keyword: razorpay international fees real cost | Status: Draft, verify Razorpay International rate and GST treatment before publish | Cross-post: Playto.so primary, then Medium and others
Razorpay is the default payment gateway for Indian businesses, and its international acceptance add-on is the obvious first stop when you start billing foreign clients. The headline rate looks competitive. The settled amount that lands in your account tells a different story, because two costs get added on top of the rate you were quoted, and neither is in the headline.
Here is what receiving international payments through Razorpay actually costs in 2026.
The headline rate, and the two additions
The headline. Razorpay's international card rate sits around 3%. That is the number on the quote.
Addition one: GST. Indian payment gateways add 18% GST on the processing fee. A 3% fee becomes an effective 3.54% once GST is applied. This is legitimate and unavoidable, but it is rarely included when the 3% is quoted to you.
Addition two: the conversion spread. When the foreign currency is converted to INR for settlement, the rate used carries a markup over mid-market, commonly in the 1% to 2% range. Like every gateway, this is priced inside the exchange rate rather than shown as a fee.
Stack the three and the real cost of an international payment through Razorpay typically lands around 5%, not 3%.
What it costs an agency at scale
Take an agency billing 100,000 USD a year to overseas clients, all on international cards. Mid-market rate 85.5.
| Cost | Rate | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Processing fee | 3% | 3,000 |
| GST on fee | 18% of fee | 540 |
| Conversion markup | ~1.5% | 1,500 |
| Total | ~5.04% | ~5,040 |
That is roughly 4,30,000 rupees a year, against a headline that suggested 3,000 USD. The gap between the quote and the reality is about 2,040 USD, or around 1,74,000 rupees, every year.
The friction costs on top of the fee
Approval and eligibility. International acceptance is an add-on that needs separate enablement and underwriting. For some business categories it is restricted or declined outright, and you may not learn this until after you have onboarded.
Settlement timing. International settlements run on their own cycle, often slower than domestic, which matters for cash flow when you are waiting on a large client payment.
Documentation. You still need clean FIRA and purpose coding for FEMA compliance on service exports. Confirm exactly what export documentation is issued and how, because reconstructing it later at tax time is painful.
Where Razorpay still makes sense
If the bulk of your volume is domestic UPI and Indian cards, Razorpay is excellent and you are already there. The question is narrower: for the international slice of your revenue specifically, is 5% all-in the best you can do? For most agencies billing overseas, it is not.
What lower looks like
Playto Pay is built specifically for the international slice. Cards are 4% flat with zero forex markup. Bank wires are 1% flat. There is no separate conversion spread layered on top, because the conversion happens at the real rate. On the same 100,000 USD a year, the card route costs 4,000 USD all-in against Razorpay International's roughly 5,040, and the bank-wire route costs 1,000. Settlement is daily to your Indian bank account, and a FIRA is generated automatically on every transaction.
The takeaway
Razorpay's 3% international rate is real, but it is not the cost. The cost is 3% plus GST plus the conversion spread, which lands near 5%. For a business doing meaningful overseas volume, route the international payments through a provider priced for them, and keep Razorpay for the domestic flow it does best.
Price the international slice properly. Playto Pay is 4% flat on cards, 1% on bank wires, zero forex markup, daily INR settlement, automatic FIRA.