Accept international payments from IndiaInvite only

Stripe supports presentment in 135+ currencies on Visa and Mastercard, and INR or USD currencies on American Express. You can prevent declines caused by a mistaken perception of a fraudulent charge and increase your success rates by presenting your international payments in your customer’s local currency.

To present in a non-INR currency, you must provide additional information during account onboarding and in API requests. Declare these transactions as exports from India and localize your presentment currency to match that of the customer’s card (for example, USD, EUR, JPY, and so on).

For more information, see our India FAQ.

Requirements

Stripe supports both INR and non-INR presentment for customers located outside India, provided:

• The Stripe account must be a registered Indian business (sole proprietorship, limited liability partnership, or company).
• The Stripe business can’t be an individual.
• If you sell physical goods, you must provide a valid Importer Exporter Code (IEC).
• If you sell services, providing an IEC is optional, unless:
  • You accept AMEX payments from international customers.
  • You take any benefits under India’s Foreign Trade Policy.

Onboarding

To enable export transactions, you must do the following when submitting your account application:

1. Opt in to exports: In the account application, under I am exporting products to customers located outside India, select the applicable box. If you don’t opt in, you can only make export charges in a sandbox. This option is only available for certain users (sole proprietorship, limited liability partnership, or company).

2. Submit your importer/exporter code (IEC): The IEC is a code issued by the Indian Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to Indian companies that intend to export from India. You can apply for an IEC on the DGFT website.

   You must provide an IEC under certain conditions:

   • If you plan to accept Visa or Mastercard and you sell physical goods.
   • If you plan to accept AMEX international payments for all export transactions, including selling physical goods and services, as described by India’s Foreign Trade Policy.

3. Specify a transaction purpose code: The transaction purpose code describes the nature of a payment received in foreign currency. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintains the list of valid transaction purpose codes. You must select the code that’s closest to your product from the dropdown in the account application.

Opt in or update export details after account activation

You can opt into the ability to enable exports, change your IEC (if applicable), or change your transaction purpose code at any time through the Dashboard. If needed, you can use the same IEC for multiple export businesses, as long as the IEC is in the name of a common beneficial owner of both businesses.

A Stripe account can only have a single transaction purpose code.

Valid charges

Provide these additional fields for every international payment presented to a customer holding a non-India issued card to meet regulatory reporting requirements:

• The buyer’s name
• The billing address with a valid 2-alphabet ISO-3166 country code
• The charge description
• The shipping address with a valid 2-alphabet ISO-3166 country code, if you sell physical goods

Payouts

Stripe pays out to you in INR the funds collected from domestic and international payments. If you process both domestic and international payments, you might receive two payouts on the same day, with an International label for the relevant payouts in your Dashboard.

International payments for services

Provide the following fields for every international payment for services to meet our financial partners’ requirements:

• The buyer’s name
• The billing address
• A description of the service to export

You must provide this information to prevent the payment from failing.

To declare a payment as an export transaction:

1. Pass the service description in the Payment Intents API:

   Command Line

   cURL

   curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \
     -u "
   sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
   :" \
     -d amount=1099 \
     -d currency=usd \
     -d description="Software development services"

2. Pass the customer name and billing address using the create a customer API:

   Command Line

   cURL

   curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \
     -u "
   sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
   :" \
     -d name="Jenny Rosen" \
     -d "address[line1]"="510 Townsend St" \
     -d "address[postal_code]"=98140 \
     -d "address[city]"="San Francisco" \
     -d "address[state]"=CA \
     -d "address[country]"=US

International payments for goods

Our financial partners require the following fields for every international payment for goods:

• The buyer’s name
• The billing address
• A description of the item to export
• The shipping address

You must provide this information to prevent the payment from failing.

To declare a payment as an export transaction:

1. Pass the description of the item and a shipping address in the Payment Intents API:

   Command Line

   cURL

   curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \
     -u "
   sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
   :" \
     -d description="Software development services" \
     -d "shipping[name]"="Jenny Rosen" \
     -d "shipping[address][line1]"="510 Townsend St" \
     -d "shipping[address][postal_code]"=98140 \
     -d "shipping[address][city]"="San Francisco" \
     -d "shipping[address][state]"=CA \
     -d "shipping[address][country]"=US \
     -d amount=1099 \
     -d currency=usd \
     -d "payment_method_types[]"=card

2. Pass the customer name and billing address in the create a customer API:

   Command Line

   cURL

   curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \
     -u "
   sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
   :" \
     -d name="Jenny Rosen" \
     -d "address[line1]"="510 Townsend St" \
     -d "address[postal_code]"=98140 \
     -d "address[city]"="San Francisco" \
     -d "address[state]"=CA \
     -d "address[country]"=US

Fight fraud

International card payments require 2-factor authentication using 3D Secure (3DS).

Accept recurring international payments

You can use Stripe Billing to bill your international customers using subscriptions and invoices.

For recurring international payments related to services, you must provide a buyer’s name and an address.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d name="Jenny Rosen" \
  -d "address[line1]"="510 Townsend St" \
  -d "address[postal_code]"=98140 \
  -d "address[city]"="San Francisco" \
  -d "address[state]"=CA \
  -d "address[country]"=US

Stripe generates a description from the description on your invoice items. Make sure the description on your invoice items accurately reflects your product.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/invoiceitems \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d customer=cus_Ej0c314UoUXBgX \
  -d amount=2500 \
  -d currency=usd \
  -d description="One-time setup fee"

For recurring international payments related to physical goods, you must provide a shipping address in the create a customer API.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d "shipping[name]"="Jenny Rosen" \
  -d "shipping[address][line1]"="510 Townsend St" \
  -d "shipping[address][postal_code]"=98140 \
  -d "shipping[address][city]"="San Francisco" \
  -d "shipping[address][state]"=CA \
  -d "shipping[address][country]"=US

Recurring payments best practices

When selling to international customers, 3D Secure isn’t mandatory, but you might notice a higher dispute rate than when you sell to Indian customers.

We often see disputes from customers claiming that they were charged even after they canceled their subscription. Here are some best practices to avoid these disputes:

• Make it clear on your signup page that your customers are agreeing to a recurring payment and include information about whether or not you plan to notify the customer before each payment. Make sure cancellation procedures are clearly communicated to your customers, and clearly state the window during which your customer can cancel a subscription. Include copies of these procedures in a visible terms of service page.
• If you offer a free or discounted trial period, be sure to clearly communicate the length of the trial and the date when your customer is billed the full price. Clearly display the amount of the standard pricing above the payment button on your checkout page.
• Cancel subscriptions within two business days of initial request, making sure to pass the cancellation along to Stripe if you use our subscription functionality. Per card network rules, you can only make eight attempts per card after an initial decline, so be sure to close out any subscriptions that have already reached this limit. Provide your customer with a confirmation of the cancellation.
• Have a clear way for customers to contact you if requesting cancellation. If customers have questions about their subscription, they’re more likely to submit a dispute if they can’t contact you. You can track your overall dispute activity under the Analytics section in your Dashboard.

Monthly payment advice for export transactions

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) issues payment advice directly to your registered Stripe email address the same day your export payout is processed. This includes a list of export charges that are part of the specific export payout.

Transaction purpose codes

If you have a Stripe account, you can select the following transaction purpose codes during account onboarding or in the Dashboard. Select the code that best aligns with your business. Stripe can’t support codes not listed below due to requirements from our financial partner.