Issue with International Recurring Payments from India – Looking for A

1

Hello everyone,

I’m facing an issue with payments from India related to standing instructions / recurring payments.

Until last month, recurring payments were working fine. However, due to recent RBI guidelines, banks in India are now declining recurring/standing instruction transactions for international merchants. Because of this, we are unable to process recurring payments to Stape.io.

I contacted the Stape support team, and they mentioned that a single (one-time) invoice cannot be raised. I’ve also tried multiple credit cards, but the response from the banks is consistent:

  • One-time payments are allowed
  • Recurring payments are being blocked as per RBI regulations

This has left us stuck, as recurring payments are not going through and a one-time payment option is not available from the merchant side.

Has anyone else faced a similar issue with international SaaS subscriptions from India?
If yes, were you able to resolve it—perhaps via a workaround, alternate payment method, or support escalation?

Would really appreciate any guidance or shared experiences.

Thanks in advance.

2

Hello @azanm,

Unfortunately, this is a known limitation related to RBI regulations in India, where banks block recurring international card payments (standing instructions) for many providers. Since subscription billing on our side is handled automatically by the payment provider, we’re unable to override this behavior.

At the moment, the most reliable option is to switch to an annual subscription via PayPal. Annual payments are treated as one-time transactions, are generally accepted by Indian banks, and are also more cost-effective overall. This can serve as a temporary solution while the regulatory situation evolves.

We understand this is inconvenient and appreciate your understanding.