Top 8 Payment Gateways in India that Support Recurring Payments for 2024

Recurring payments are convenient not only for the merchants but for the customers too. Customers need to sign up once and can experience frictionless payments and uninterrupted services for as long as they want. No wonder the global subscription/recurring management market is expected to reach $10,772.15 million by 2025. Considering the growth of the recurring payment industry, online merchants must adopt payment gateways that offer a seamless subscription/recurring payment system.

Doing so provides businesses with a strategic advantage in an increasingly competitive market landscape. This blog talks about eight payment gateways in India that are reliable and support recurring payments. We'll briefly list the features to help you compare different options easily and make an informed decision.

What are Recurring Payments, and How do Recurring Payments Work?

Also known as subscription payments, recurring payments are a type of repeating payment authorized by the customer. Once authorized by the customer, such payments are deducted per a predetermined schedule in exchange for products/services offered by the merchant/business. 

Let's learn how these payments work.

Let's say your business offers a monthly package of food (cakes, groceries, etc.) supplies. A customer purchases some products, enters their card information in the payment gateway and registers for the subscription. The subscription could be weekly, bi-weekly, fortnightly, monthly, etc., depending on the gateway and the merchant. Once customers choose the subscription and make the initial payment, they can access the services/products.

And when the next payment is due (according to the customer has choice), the amount will be automatically deducted from the customer's account. It will be credited to the merchant's account. This is how recurring payments work.

Please Note: A positive customer experience depends on quality online merchants providing clear and simple subscription cancellation options.

How are Recurring Payments Different from One-Time Payments?

As stated earlier, recurring payments are repetitive payments made in exchange for an uninterrupted supply of services/products. The customer makes an initial payment, registers for the subscription, and continues to pay automatically until they want. Common examples are Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+Hotstar, and more.

One-time payment is precisely what the name tells. When customers make a purchase and pay once for their product or service, it's a one-time payment. Customers buying cars and paying in full all at once is an example of a one-time payment.

One-time payments can be made using several traditional and alternative payment methods such as debit/credit cards, digital wallets, crypto, net banking, electronic funds transfer, and more. Now that you know what recurring payments are, let's cycle through our list of the best payment gateways that support recurring payments.

Which are the best Recurring Payment Gateways in India?

1. CCAvenue

CCAvenue is one of India's most popular and functional payment gateways supporting recurring payments. It has a super easy user interface and allows you to create a custom subscription plan based on your requirements. Here are some essential features of CCAvenue:

Currency Support: CCAvenue supports 27+ major foreign currencies allowing you to expand your business in several locations.

Setup Fee: There's no setup fee.

Transaction Charges: CCAvenue charges:

• 2% per transaction for Wallet

• 2% per transaction for IMPs

• 2% per transaction UPI

• 3% flat fee for international debit/credit cards

Payment Methods: Supports a variety of payment methods from credit cards, debit cards, and net banking to wallets and bank EMI.

Customer Support: They offer impeccable voice, chat, and email responses 24/7/365, as per their website.

2. PayU

Yet another reliable payment gateway in India is PayU. It allows you to control their billing logic and create periodicity, plans, and pricing as you like. Whether you belong to the BFSI, SaaS, OTT, Edtech, or any other industry, you can use PayU to accept recurring payments from your customers. Here are some essential features of PayU:

Currency Support: PayU has impeccable currency support. It supports 100+ currencies, including Singapore Dollar (SGD), Arab Emirates Dirham (AED), New Zealand Dollar (NZD), Bahraini Dinar (BHD), Euro (EUR), Australian Dollar (AUD), British Pound (GBP), and others.

Setup Fee: PayU has no setup fee and works on the pay-as-you-go model. So, you save a lot of money. 

Transaction Charges: PayU charges: 

• 2% for Visa, Mastercard, net banking, 
• 2% for BNPL, and wallets.
• 3% for Diners, American Express, EMI, and international transactions.

Payment Methods: Supports a whopping 150+ payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, net banking, wallets, and more. 

Customer Support: PayU offers decent chat support that is available 24/7.

3. Razorpay

Razorpay is a popular payment gateway in India that makes accepting subscription payments extremely easy. Merchants can acquire customers using cards and even UPI and mandates. You can control the billing cycle, enable recurring payment schedules and get instant updates on subscription activity using Razorpay subscriptions. Here are some striking features of Razorpay:

Currency Support: Razorpay supports numerous currencies, such as USD, AUD, SGD, CAD, GBP, EUR, INR, MYR, and HKD, for transactions that originate from India.
Setup Fee: There's no setup fee.
Transaction Charges: Razorpay charges:

• 2% per transaction + GST for Indian credit and debit cards, UPI, wallets, and net banking.

• 3% + GST for international cards.

Payment Methods: Supports 100+ payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, net banking, wallets, and more.
Customer Support: Razorpay offers good customer support. You can raise a ticket, and your query will be resolved pretty quickly.

4. Paytm

Initially popular as a digital wallet, Paytm is also popular for its payment gateway services. All types of subscription businesses that want to accept recurring payments can do that using Paytm's UPI autopay. It offers 100+ payment sources, flexible pricing models, and a commendable reach of Paytm Wallet users far past the 330-million mark.

Here are some other vital features of Paytm:

Currency Support: Paytm supports various currencies, such as AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, SGD, USD & more.

Setup Fee: Paytm charges no setup fee or recurring charges to run your Paytm business account.

Transaction Charges: Paytm charges:

• 0% for Rupay debit cards and UPI. 

• 1.99% for Paytm wallet and postpaid.

• 2.9% for EMI

• 1.9% Visa, Mastercard, and RuPay credit cards

Payment Methods: Supports 100+ payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, net banking, wallets, and more.

Customer Support: Paytm has impressive customer support accessible all days of the week.

5. Cashfree

Cashfree comes with a comprehensive recurring payments model. You can accept recurring payments via cards, UPI Autopay, Nach, or e-Mandate. You can always customize your recurring plans in whatever way you find suitable. Also, Cashfree checks if the card supports recurring or subscriptions during registration to achieve a better success rate.

Some critical features of Cashfree are:

Currency Support: TThe Cashfree platform supports several currencies. Some of these include INR, USD, GBP, AED, EUR, QAR, THB, ZAR & more.

Setup Fee: There is no setup fee or annual maintenance charge for Cashfree. 

Transaction Charges: Paytm charges:

• 1.90% + GST for Mastercard, Visa, Maestro, and RuPay credit and debit cards

• 1.90% + GST for digital wallets

• 1.90% + GST for UPI

• 3.5% + GST + Rs. 7 for international credit/debit cards

Payment Methods: Supports 120+ payment methods, including 65+ net banking options, digital wallets, BNPL, EMI, and more.

Customer Support: If you have a query related to Cashfree, it can be difficult to get in touch with the team directly. However, they provide an exhaustive list of FAQs that should cover most answers.

6. Stripe

Stripe offers end-to-end billing software for customers who want to accept all types of payments, including recurring ones. You can customize the subscription logic and pricing models using Stripe's API and start accepting payments within no time. Moreover, there's support for add-ons, coupons, and free trials with Stripe. Here are some other features Stripe comes with:

Currency Support: Stripe accepts 135+ currencies, making it easy for merchants to expand their business.

Setup Fee: There is no setup fee or monthly maintenance charge for Stripe. 

Transaction Charges: Stripe works on the pay-as-you-go model and charges:

• 2% per transaction for cards issued in India

• 3% per transaction for cards issued outside India

Payment Methods: Stripe supports dozens of payment methods, including local/global debit and credit cards, digital wallets, and more.

Customer Support: 24/7 customer support is available to the merchants. You can also access dedicated customer support if required.

7. Instamojo

Instamojo is an independent #D2CTech platform offering services to the Indian retail population. They offer three options:

• An online store setup
• A smart landing page builder
• Payment links for ease of payment 
  

The payment service provider has been in the market for 10+ years, and they have 300,000 sellers associated with their platform.

Currency Support: Instamojo accepts only Indian Rupees, making it easy for Indian merchants to run their business domestically.

Setup Fee: There is no setup fee or monthly maintenance charge for Instamojo.

Transaction Charges: The transaction charges vary as per their plans:

• Growth plan: 2% of the transaction amount + 3 INR(excluding 18% GST) 

• Lite/Starter plan: 5% of the transaction amount + 3 INR(excluding 18% GST) 

Payment Methods: GooglePay, Netbanking, Debit & Credit cards, EMI, and pay later options.

Customer Support: You can contact Instamojo’s customer support by mailing them to their designated email address.

8. Easebuzz

Last on our list is Easebuzz. Easebuzz enables merchants to accept card payments and send a subscription payment link to customers for a convenient experience. It allows you to customize subscription pricing and billing cycle as you like and track & manage subscriptions from a single dashboard. 

Here are some important features of Easebuzz:

Currency Support: Easebuzz only supports INR, as of now.

Setup Fee: There is no setup fee or maintenance charges for Easebuzz.

Transaction Charges: Easebuzz charges: 

• 1.5% per transaction for all domestic debit cards

• 2% per transaction for net banking transactions

• 2.5% per transaction for UPI

• 2.2 per transaction for postpaid

• 2.5% per transaction (EMI)

Payment Methods: Easebuzz supports multiple payment methods such as wallets, EMI, BNPL, credit and debit cards, and more.

Customer Support: You need to fill out an online contact form to reach out to Easebuzz.

How Can inai Help?

Now that you know about some of the best payment gateways in India, you can choose the best option and start capturing a much wider audience. But what if your chosen payment gateway faces an outage or suddenly increases its pricing? Well, the major problem here is reliance on a single payment gateway. So, what can you do to deal with this? That's when inai comes in.

Our Payment Aggregation platform empowers businesses to integrate up to 30+ gateways with 300 plus methods of payment. With this wide range at your disposal, you can capture a greater customer base while protecting yourself from eventualities like increased fees and outages- without compromising service delivery, as customers will be seamlessly rerouted to another available option.