Razorpay

What is Razorpay?

Razorpay is a full-stack financial services platform for Indian businesses. It started as a payment gateway — the layer between your app/website and Indian payment networks (UPI, cards, netbanking, wallets) — and has expanded into a complete financial infrastructure stack including: outgoing payouts (pay vendors, gig workers, refunds), RazorpayX (a neo-banking layer with current accounts, forex, and FD), subscriptions and recurring billing, invoicing and payment links, and Razorpay Capital (working capital loans based on transaction history).

Founded in 2014 by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Razorpay is valued at $7.5 billion (as of last funding round) and is one of India's most successful fintech companies. It processes payments for 8 million+ businesses across India — from bootstrapped Shopify stores to Series D funded startups to large enterprises.

Quick facts: Founded 2014 · HQ: Bengaluru · Valuation: $7.5B · Merchants: 8M+ · Annual processing: ₹10L crore+ · Payment methods: UPI, cards, netbanking, wallets, EMI, BNPL · RBI licensed payment aggregator · PCI DSS Level 1 compliant

Key Features

Pricing — TDR Rates (India 2026)

TDR = Transaction Discount Rate (the fee Razorpay charges per transaction). No setup fees, no monthly fees on the standard plan. Rates below are for domestic transactions.

Who Should Use Razorpay

• Every Indian startup that needs to collect payments — If you're building anything in India that charges users money, start with Razorpay. The integration is the fastest (30–60 minutes for a basic checkout), documentation is excellent, and it supports all Indian payment methods out of the box.
• SaaS companies needing subscription billing — Razorpay Subscriptions handles UPI AutoPay mandates and card-on-file recurring billing well. The dunning management (automatic retry on failed payments) is good and configurable.
• Marketplaces and platforms that need to pay out — RazorpayX Payouts API is the easiest way to automate vendor payments, freelancer disbursals, and refunds at scale. Better than doing NEFT via net banking manually.
• Companies needing business banking + payments in one — RazorpayX current accounts with gateway settlements in one dashboard simplifies reconciliation significantly vs. using a separate bank + payment gateway.
• Not ideal for: very high volume (₹10Cr+/month) without custom contract — At this scale, you should have negotiated custom rates. If Razorpay won't negotiate, Cashfree or a direct bank partnership may be cheaper.
• Not for: businesses primarily collecting international payments — Razorpay's 3% international rate + currency conversion is higher than Stripe. If >30% of your revenue is international, use Stripe for international and Razorpay for domestic.

Developer Integration Playbook

For engineering teams, implementing Razorpay involves setting up the client checkout window, securing database endpoints, and listening to webhook logs for payment state updates.

// Sample Client Checkout setup
const options = {
  key: "YOUR_KEY_ID",
  amount: 50000, // ₹500 in paise
  currency: "INR",
  name: "ProductGrowth",
  description: "Standard Plan Dues",
  order_id: "order_9A7g99s88h12", // Pre-created Order ID
  handler: function (response) {
    // Dispatch payment metadata to your backend api endpoint
    verifyPaymentSignature(response);
  }
};
const rzp = new Razorpay(options);
rzp.open();
        

Make sure you verify the payment signature using SHA256 key matches to prevent transaction spoofing. Additionally, set up webhook triggers for payment.captured and order.paid to handle user state credits in the background even if the browser session drops before confirmation callbacks finish.

First 5 Things to Set Up

Most teams integrate the basic checkout and stop. Here's what to set up to get full value.

1. 1

   Complete KYC and activate your account (do this first)

   Razorpay starts you in "test mode." To go live you need to submit business documents: GST certificate, PAN card, cancelled cheque/bank statement, and business registration. This takes 1–7 business days. Start KYC the day you start integration — don't wait until you're ready to launch or you'll delay your go-live date.

2. 2

   Integrate the Razorpay checkout and configure payment methods

   Use the Razorpay Checkout (their hosted page) for fastest integration — no frontend work needed. Use the custom integration (Razorpay.js) if you need a fully custom UI. Enable only the payment methods your users actually use — disabling irrelevant options (obscure wallets) improves conversion by reducing decision paralysis on the payment page.

3. 3

   Set up webhooks for payment events

   Never trust the client-side callback alone — always verify payments server-side via webhooks. Subscribe to: payment.authorized, payment.failed, payment.captured, refund.processed. Build idempotent webhook handlers — Razorpay may send the same event multiple times. This is critical for fintech apps where payment state drives KYC or transaction unlock.

4. 4

   Configure settlements and set up RazorpayX for banking

   Default settlement is T+2 (2 business days after payment). You can enable instant settlements for a small fee (0.25% extra TDR) if cash flow is critical. If you also need to make payouts, set up RazorpayX — link it to your settlement account so incoming payments and outgoing payouts are in the same financial layer with one dashboard.

5. 5

   Monitor payment success rates by method and bank

   Razorpay's analytics dashboard shows payment success rates broken down by method (UPI, cards, netbanking) and by bank issuer. Watch this weekly — some bank-card combinations have systematically lower success rates. If a specific bank's netbanking is failing frequently, temporarily deprioritize it in your payment method ordering. For high-value transactions (>₹10,000), route through UPI or card preferentially over netbanking — higher success rates.

Pros and Cons

Razorpay Alternatives

When Razorpay isn't the right fit — or when you should use both.

Frequently Asked Questions