Razorpay Facilitates International Payments for Indian Freelancers

Razorpay now enables Indian freelancers to reduce the cost of accepting international payments.

The company’s MoneySaver Export Account allows freelancers to open an account in any country, accept payments locally via bank transfers on the Razorpay platform, and save up to 50% in fees and commissions on international bank transfers, Razorpay said in a Monday (June 24) press release.

“While India continues to grow as one of the fastest-growing markets for freelancers, it’s crucial to have seamless and a cost-efficient method to manage international money transfers securely and support this dynamic community with immense potential,” Rahul Kothari, chief operating officer at Razorpay, said in the release.

With this offering, Indian freelancers can create accounts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe and other priority export markets, according to the release.

Doing so enables the use of banking networks like ACH, SEPA, SWIFT and FPS, the release said.

The MoneySaver Export Account adheres to Reserve Bank of India guidelines, enables the receipt of international bank transfers from more than 160 countries within five seconds, offers a single-click Digital Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate and incurs no withdrawal fees from online freelance marketplaces, per the release.

This solution aims to solve the challenges Indian freelancers have faced with transaction fees and currency conversion charges, Kothari said in the release. It’s meant to provide “seamless, border-free global banking.”

“Our commitment to providing a reliable, hassle-free financial experience can now ensure that freelancers can focus on what they do best — delivering exceptional work to clients around the world,” Kothari said.

This offering for freelancers represents an expansion of the MoneySaver Export Account that Razorpay launched in July 2023 for exporters, according to the release. The earlier account is now being used by more than 15,000 exporters.

In another recent move, Razorpay said in April that it launched its own Unified Payments Interface (UPI) infrastructure in partnership with Airtel Payments Bank.

This infrastructure, UPI Switch, boosts success rates by 4% to 5%; handles up to 10,000 transactions per second at any given time; and enables five times faster access to UPI innovations for business.