{"id":39534,"date":"2026-09-08T22:13:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/?p=39534"},"modified":"2026-09-08T22:13:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:43:50","slug":"why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Why India, Why Now: Building the Infrastructure Behind Global Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #005c31;color:#005c31\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #005c31;color:#005c31\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth\/#India_has_made_it_easier_to_get_the_payment_through\" >India has made it easier to get the payment through<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth\/#Cross-border_payments_still_have_a_long_way_to_go\" >Cross-border payments still have a long way to go<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth\/#The_banking_layer_matters\" >The banking layer matters<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth\/#Building_a_stronger_connection_between_collection_and_settlement\" >Building a stronger connection between collection and settlement<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth\/#Why_2026_is_an_important_moment\" >Why 2026 is an important moment<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India is no longer a market global businesses are testing. It&#8217;s becoming part of their growth plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The numbers explain why. India&#8217;s ecommerce market is expected to reach $300 billion by 2030, and shopping keeps moving beyond the largest cities. On Myntra, nearly 45% of demand for international brands already comes from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Globally, nearly half of shoppers now make a cross-border purchase within any six-month period; buying international brands has become the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The opportunity isn&#8217;t about creating demand; that already exists. The question is whether infrastructure can keep pace once demand turns into real volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"India_has_made_it_easier_to_get_the_payment_through\"><\/span><strong>India has made it easier to get the payment through<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India&#8217;s payments ecosystem has matured fast. Consumers expect local payment methods, INR pricing and instant confirmation, and UPI alone processes more than 20 billion transactions a month, a scale few systems match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a global business, this removes much of the checkout friction that once existed; offering UPI, INR pricing and local authentication makes it far easier to convert an Indian customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there&#8217;s a part of the transaction customers never see. Once payment succeeds, the money still has to be collected, reconciled, reported and moved through India&#8217;s regulatory and banking system before reaching the business overseas, and at scale, these steps matter a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A business doing a few thousand dollars a month in India won&#8217;t think much about settlement timelines or FX. A business doing millions will want to know when funds arrive, in what currency, at what cost, and whether reconciliation is clean. This is where infrastructure starts to matter as much as the payment itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cross-border_payments_still_have_a_long_way_to_go\"><\/span><strong>Cross-border payments still have a long way to go<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moving money across borders is more complex than moving it within one market: multiple banks, payment systems, currencies and regulatory frameworks all have to work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Financial Stability Board&#8217;s 2025 monitoring of the G20 roadmap found that infrastructure gains have yet to translate into meaningful improvements in speed, cost or transparency for end users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For digital commerce, that&#8217;s a real disconnect, an almost instantaneous customer experience, built on money that still moves through several layers of infrastructure. This matters more as India becomes a bigger part of a business&#8217;s revenue: settlement stops being an operational detail and becomes part of the market&#8217;s economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_banking_layer_matters\"><\/span><strong>The banking layer matters<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the RBI&#8217;s Payment Aggregator-Cross Border framework, funds collected from Indian customers move through authorised banking infrastructure, from the payment aggregator&#8217;s escrow account to an Import Collection Account with an AD Category-I bank, before being remitted overseas, invisible to the customer but fundamental to how the transaction works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The AD-I bank isn&#8217;t just a regulatory checkpoint. It&#8217;s part of what connects local collection to international settlement: banking relationships, FX, treasury capability, and the ability to move funds predictably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A good checkout wins the customer. The infrastructure behind it turns that payment into usable revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Building_a_stronger_connection_between_collection_and_settlement\"><\/span><strong>Building a stronger connection between collection and settlement<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the thinking behind Cashfree Payments onboarding Citibank as an AD Category-I banking partner, whose global banking capabilities strengthen the connection between local collection in India and settlement overseas, part of a broader effort to keep pace with how businesses are scaling here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For global businesses moving from testing India to building a real business here, this matters: they need more than local payment methods; they need infrastructure that supports growing volumes, navigates regulation, and gives predictability on where and when money arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same is true for global Payment Aggregators giving their merchants access to local payments in India: what looks like a checkout feature becomes a settlement problem once volumes grow. PAs need to know not just how merchants collect, but how those funds move afterwards, part of the proposition even the customer never sees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re building for India, or already scaling here, <a href=\"https:\/\/claude.ai\/chat\/c51223ec-090e-49e2-824e-7220a766345b#\">explore Cashfree&#8217;s<\/a> Payment Solution for Global Businesses to see how collection and settlement infrastructure comes together in one platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_2026_is_an_important_moment\"><\/span><strong>Why 2026 is an important moment<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This conversation matters now because India&#8217;s consumer demand is growing as the infrastructure behind cross-border commerce matures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More Indians are shopping online and buying from international brands, with demand spreading into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and regulation keeps evolving alongside it. From 1 October 2026, the RBI requires card issuers to register BINs with international networks and apply risk-based authentication to cross-border card-not-present transactions, another sign of how fast this infrastructure is moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s no longer just about whether Indian customers can pay; it&#8217;s whether the systems behind those payments can support the business as India becomes a real revenue market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India has built the demand and the rails to handle it. The next challenge is making sure the infrastructure connecting collection to settlement is ready for what comes next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India is no longer a market global businesses are testing. It&#8217;s becoming part of their growth plans. The numbers explain why. India&#8217;s ecommerce market is expected to reach $300 billion by 2030, and shopping keeps moving beyond the largest cities. On Myntra, nearly 45% of demand for international brands already comes from Tier 2 and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":39540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cashfree-gff"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why India, Why Now: Building the Infrastructure Behind Global Growth - Cashfree Payments Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogrevamp.cashfree.com\/why-india-why-now-building-the-infrastructure-behind-global-growth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why India, Why Now: Building the Infrastructure Behind Global Growth - Cashfree Payments Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"India is no longer a market global businesses are testing. 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