India’s cross-border payments arena surges in 2025, a $50 billion remittance boom fueled by $135.46 billion in inflows—up 14% YoY—making the nation the world’s top recipient, outpacing Mexico and China. With 12,000+ exporters and 15 million freelancers driving $250 billion in annual transactions, fintechs like Skydo and RazorpayX secure RBI’s nod as Payment Aggregators-Cross Border (PA-CB), enabling seamless USD/EUR inflows via virtual accounts. Yet, amid SWIFT delays and 4% forex markups eroding margins, 70% SMEs face compliance hurdles under FEMA and RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme. Skydo and RazorpayX, raising $200 million combined, pioneer freelancer-friendly platforms with zero-markup conversions, targeting 10x volume growth. Flow global with compliant currents, or stagnate in siloed shores?
The frontier expands on RBI’s Payments Vision 2025, tripling digital flows via UPI’s international links to 10 countries, including Singapore and UAE. Project Nexus, a BIS-led multilateral network, aims for instant settlements by 2026, slashing costs 50% for SMBs. Tier-2/3 hubs like Indore, with 60% freelance growth, demand vernacular tools—Hindi FIRCs, Tamil TCS calculators—to counter 40% literacy gaps. Challenges: 25% fraud via deepfakes and DPDP’s data localization inflating ops 15%. Funding hits $500 million H1, prioritizing sovereign APIs amid IndiaAI’s ₹10,300 crore compute.
Skydo, Bengaluru’s exporter enabler founded in 2022 by Srivatsan Sridhar and Movin Jain, simplifies B2B inflows with virtual foreign accounts in USD/EUR/GBP, processing $250 million annually for 12,000 clients. Its in-principle PA-CB approval in January 2025—joining Cashfree and Adyen—unlocks import payments and 10x scaling over 18 months, backed by $9.7 million equity from Elevation Capital. Amazon’s PSP nod integrates Global Selling, auto-generating FIRCs for RBI compliance. Sridhar’s strategy: “Cross-border as UPI—frictionless for freelancers,” with blockchain traceability cutting forex 50%, onboarding 2,000 Tier-3 users monthly via Hindi dashboards.
RazorpayX, the B2B arm of Razorpay since 2015, embeds cross-border rails in e-commerce, offering MoneySaver Export Accounts for freelancers with no FX markups and 5-second settlements from 160 countries. Its Versions 2025 V11 release streamlines invoicing and TCS/GST, processing billions via UPI-linked virtual accounts. No fresh equity since 2021’s $375 million, but $742 million total funds AI fraud tools compliant with RBI’s 2FA. Serving 10,000+ exporters, RazorpayX’s guided IEC/RBI purpose code setup cuts onboarding 60%. Khosla Ventures’ infusion eyes $1 billion ARR, with Jain emphasizing: “Embedded for exports—seamless as domestic,” expanding to Vietnam corridors.
Their $200 million momentum—Skydo’s seed for corridors, RazorpayX’s synergies for APIs—targets $2.5 billion volume, creating 5,000 jobs. INR conversion strategies: Mid-market rates via NPCI APIs—Skydo’s zero-markup saves 4%; RazorpayX’s auto-FIRC simplifies TCS at 20% for freelancers. Compete in $50B boom: Hyper-personalize with UPI data for 40% better recs; vernacular in 12 languages slashes CAC 30%. For SMEs: Freemium at ₹500/month yields 2-year ROI; SHG pilots in Bihar foster 3x adoption, ESG bonds at 7% de-risking.
Pitfalls persist: 50% biases exclude dialects; 40% rural infra stalls. Global nods from Wise affirm: Inclusive rails yield 70% retention.
In 2025, Skydo and RazorpayX frontier fintech’s flow. For 15 million freelancers, their platforms could unlock $10 billion exports, greening remittances. Stagnate? Only if silos sever synergy. With RBI’s rigor, India’s startups don’t just remit—they rewire riches.
Last Updated on: Thursday, November 13, 2025 8:09 pm by Business Byte Team | Published by: Business Byte Team on Thursday, November 13, 2025 8:09 pm | News Categories: Startups
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