Cross-Border Import Payments

Pine Labs PA-CB Import Payments enables eligible overseas merchants to accept payments from Indian customers through a regulated cross-border payment flow, without requiring the merchant to set up a local Indian entity.

Indian customers can pay in INR through supported payment modes, while the overseas merchant can receive settlement into its approved foreign bank account, subject to onboarding, compliance checks, purpose-code eligibility, and AD bank processing.

This solution is designed for global businesses such as overseas education providers, travel platforms, SaaS companies, digital service providers, professional service firms, and D2C brands that want to sell to Indian customers with a localized payment experience.

Why Global Merchants Need a Localized India Payment Flow?

India is one of the most attractive digital commerce markets for global businesses. However, accepting payments from Indian customers is not as simple as adding an international card checkout.

Indian customers expect:

INR pricing
Familiar local payment methods such as UPI
Smooth checkout
Trusted payment authentication
Instant payment confirmation
Reliable refunds

At the same time, many global merchants do not want to create an Indian entity, open an Indian bank account, or manage complex regulatory and settlement requirements.
Pine Labs PA-CB Import Payments helps address this gap by enabling eligible overseas merchants to collect payments from Indian customers through a regulated cross-border payment framework.

Why Choose Pine Labs for Cross-Border Import Payments?

India's payment ecosystem is unique. Businesses entering India cannot rely only on international card rails or generic payment processors.

They need a payment partner that understands:

Local payment behavior
Domestic checkout expectations
Compliance requirements
Settlement operations
Refund and reconciliation workflows

Pine Labs brings together :

Online payment gateway capabilities
Hosted Checkout
Payment Links
Merchant onboarding
Refund and reconciliation systems
Enterprise payment infrastructure
AD bank-led settlement coordination
Compliance-led cross-border payment processing

This helps global businesses enter the Indian market with lower operational friction and a more localized customer payment experience.

Key Features

Accept Payments from India Without a Local Entity

Eligible overseas merchants can collect payments from Indian customers without creating an Indian company or opening a local Indian bank account.

This helps reduce market-entry friction and allows global businesses to start serving Indian customers faster.

Localized INR Checkout Experience

Indian customers are more comfortable when they see INR pricing and familiar payment options.

Pine Labs enables merchants to offer a localized checkout experience where customers can pay in INR through supported payment modes.

Hosted Checkout with Lower Integration Effort

Pine Labs Hosted Checkout allows merchants to redirect customers to a Pine Labs-hosted payment page.

Pine Labs manages the checkout experience, payment collection, and secure processing flow.

Hosted Checkout can reduce integration effort for merchants that do not want to build and maintain the complete checkout flow over S2S APIs.

It can also reduce the merchant's PCI compliance burden because sensitive payment information is handled by Pine Labs Checkout.

Regulated Cross-Border Settlement Flow

PA-CB Import Payments are designed for regulated cross-border payment use cases.

RBI's PA Directions require inward and outward PA-CB funds to be kept separate, with no co-mingling or netting permitted between inward and outward transactions.

RBI also states that for inward or outward transactions processed by a PA-CB, the maximum value per transaction is ₹25 lakh.

Because of this, eligible transactions, limits, purpose codes, settlement dependencies, and compliance checkpoints must be clearly defined before processing.

Purpose-Code and Transaction-Category Mapping

Every cross-border transaction must be mapped based on the underlying purpose of payment.

Examples of payment purposes may include: Education, Travel, SaaS, Professional services, Digital goods, and Physical goods.

Each category may have different purpose-code and documentation expectations.

Pine Labs PA-CB Import flow helps ensure that transactions are processed only when the merchant category, payment purpose, and required documentation are aligned.

Benefits

Benefits for Overseas Merchants

Pine Labs PA-CB Import Payments helps global merchants:

Sell to Indian customers without setting up an Indian entity
Offer an INR checkout experience
Reduce dependency on international-card-only payment flows
Improve customer trust with localized payment collection
Receive settlement into approved overseas bank accounts
Reduce operational complexity around payment collection, settlement, reconciliation, and refunds
Access Pine Labs checkout, payment link, and payment gateway capabilities
Expand into India faster with a compliance-led payment partner

Benefits for Indian Customers

Indian customers get a simpler and more familiar payment experience. They can:

Pay in INR
Use supported local payment methods such as UPI
Avoid manual bank transfers or complicated remittance flows
Receive instant payment confirmation
Get refunds through a structured refund process
Complete transactions through a secure checkout experience

Integration Options

Hosted Checkout

Use Pine Labs Hosted Checkout to redirect customers to a Pine Labs-hosted payment page.

This option is suitable for merchants that want a faster integration and want Pine Labs to manage the checkout experience, payment collection, and secure processing flow.

Payment Links

Merchants can use Pine Labs payment links to collect payments from Indian customers without building a full checkout flow.

This can be useful for service-based payments, one-time collections, education fees, consulting payments, travel bookings, or other eligible use cases.

Payment Gateway Integration

Merchants can integrate Pine Labs payment gateway capabilities into their website or app to offer Indian customers a supported payment experience.

The exact integration approach depends on merchant eligibility, product configuration, payment methods enabled, and compliance requirements.