Wise, Payoneer or PayPal: What RBI's Export Rules Mean for UK Clients Paying Indian Freelancers

Platforms named in the question are shown alongside the 2 highest payouts among the platforms this site covers, ranked by the INR received on a $5,000 invoice. Fees were checked on 30 Sept 2026.

Two RBI regulations govern a GBP payment from a UK client. The FEMA (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations 2023 let a client in a country outside the Asian Clearing Union pay in Indian rupees or any foreign currency, so GBP is allowed, and the money must come through an authorised bank or authorised person. From 1 October 2026 the FEMA Export and Import Regulations 2026 set the EDF, EDPMS and realisation rules, after A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 20 superseded the Master Direction on Export. Receipts routed through a cross-border payment aggregator also fall under the RBI Master Direction on Payment Aggregators.

Each row applies the platform's published fee, FX markup and 18% GST on the fee to the XE mid-market rate for 4 Nov 2026. Platforms without full published pricing are not included.

For example, on a $2,000 invoice Skydo pays about ₹1,87,163 and PayPal about ₹1,73,996 at today's reference rate, a difference of ₹13,167.

Each UK payment needs an export invoice, an EDF entry and a record of the inward remittance, plus an LUT if you are GST-registered and export without paying IGST. Services to a UK client are an export of services when all five conditions in IGST Act s.2(6) are met, and an export is a zero-rated supply under IGST s.16. For most services the place of supply is the client's location (IGST s.13(2)). On the UK side, HMRC's VAT Notice 741A says a UK business buying services from a supplier outside the UK usually accounts for VAT itself under the reverse charge (section 5.1), so the Indian freelancer does not charge UK VAT.

The main change is that the FEMA Export and Import Regulations 2026 took effect on 1 October 2026 and set the realisation period for UK invoices at nine months. RBI also asked banks to credit inward payments faster from 9 October 2026, and the Income-tax Act, 2025 took effect on 1 April 2026.

• New regulations: From 1 October 2026, Circular No. 20 supersedes the Master Directions on Export and Import of Goods and Services and the circulars listed in its Annex, including the SOFTEX circulars. Software exports are now declared in the EDF, because Reg 3(2) treats software as a service.
• Realisation: A 22 September 2026 amendment replaced fifteen months with nine months, and eighteen months with twelve months for INR invoices, before the regulations took effect.
• EDPMS closure: Invoices up to ₹10 lakh can be closed in EDPMS on the exporter's declaration that payment has been received (Reg 4(2)).
• Faster credit: An RBI circular of 9 April 2026 asks banks to tell customers about inward payments on receipt and to credit payments received in forex market hours within the same business day. It takes effect six months after the circular date, on 9 October 2026.
• Income tax: The Income-tax Act, 2025 repealed the 1961 Act on 1 April 2026 and replaced 'previous year' with 'tax year'. Earlier years continue under the old Act.

Every rule is linked to its official source below with the date it was checked. Platform figures come from each platform's own pages; the full method is on the methodology page.

1. Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, Notification No. FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB, Regulations 2(1)(f), 3(2), 4(2), 5 and 18(2) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
2. RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 20: Export and Import of Goods and Services (16 January 2026), Supersession of Master Directions and Annex circulars from 1 October 2026 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
3. Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (22 September 2026), Amendment to regulation 5 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
4. Foreign Exchange Management (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations, 2023, Notification No. FEMA 14(R)/2023-RB, Regulation 3(2)(I)(a)(iii) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
5. RBI Master Direction on Regulation of Payment Aggregator (PA) (15 September 2025), Paragraph 11(d) and 11(h) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
6. RBI circular: Guidelines to facilitate faster cross-border inward payments (9 April 2026), Paras 3 and 4 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
7. RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 84: Compilation of R-Returns, reporting under FETERS (29 February 2012), Paragraph 3 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
8. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 2 (CBIC), Section 2(6) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
9. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 13 (CBIC), Section 13(2) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
10. Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, section 16: Zero rated supply (CBIC), Section 16(1) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
11. Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, Rule 96A (CBIC), Rule 96A(1)(b) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
12. Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, Rule 89 (CBIC), Rule 89(2)(c) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
13. CBIC Circular No. 8/8/2017-GST on Bond/Letter of Undertaking (4 October 2017), Para 2(b), validity of LUT (checked 6 Oct 2026)
14. GST Portal user guide: Furnishing of Letter of Undertaking (Form GST RFD-11), Filing steps (checked 6 Oct 2026)
15. DGFT Self-Certified eBRC Generation Guidelines, Version 1.0, General guidelines 1 and 2 (clubbing of IRMs) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
16. DGFT FAQs on Self-Generation of eBRC, Q1, Q2 and Q29 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
17. Income Tax Department: Objective and scope of the new Act (Income-tax Act, 2025), Repeal of the 1961 Act on 01.04.2026; tax year (checked 6 Oct 2026)
18. HMRC VAT Notice 741A: Place of supply of services, Sections 5.1 (reverse charge), 6.2 (B2C) and 6.3 (B2B) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
19. Skydo homepage (pricing and fee calculator), Know what you pay; calculator showing GST 18% of transaction fee (checked 6 Oct 2026)
20. Razorpay MoneySaver Export Account (International Bank Transfers) pricing, Standard Plan: 0% FX markup, 1% fee, FlashLinks 2%, GST applicable, flat fee of INR 1,000 on transactions below INR 1,00,000, setup and AMC INR 0 (checked 6 Oct 2026)
21. Wise India: Fees for receiving money (Business), Conversion fee depends on the currency; eFIRC for every transfer; GST 18% of (conversion fee + eFIRC fee); calculator (checked 6 Oct 2026)
22. PayPal India Merchant Fees, Receiving international transactions; Currency Conversions (3.0% converting balance and payments received; 4.00% all other cases); Withdrawals Out of PayPal; Dispute Fees; Other Fees (Last Updated 28 March 2024) (checked 6 Oct 2026)
23. Payoneer India home (checked 6 Oct 2026)