To sell digital products in India, you need three things: a page where people can buy, a payment gateway that settles money into your Indian bank account, and automatic delivery of the file or link after payment. For Indian buyers, Razorpay is the practical default because it handles UPI, cards and netbanking. For overseas buyers, you can ask Razorpay to enable international cards or use PayPal, which is built for receiving payments from abroad.
Stripe is the gateway most global guides recommend, but it is not an open option for new Indian sellers: Stripe’s support site states that Stripe is invite-only in India and that Indian businesses cannot sign up for a new account through its website. On tax, digital downloads such as e-books are treated as OIDAR services under India’s GST law, but whether you must register depends on your turnover and buyers, so talk to a CA. The rest of this guide walks through each piece.
What you can sell, and what buyers expect
Digital products are anything you make once and deliver many times over the internet: e-books and PDF guides, Notion and Canva templates, Lightroom presets, stock photos, music and sample packs, recorded courses, printable planners, and paid community access. They work well for Indian creators because there is no shipping, no inventory and no courier tracking to manage.
Buyers expect two things: a quick checkout in a method they already use, and instant access afterwards. In India that usually means UPI. Abroad it usually means a card or a PayPal balance. If either buyer has to message you on Instagram and wait for a Google Drive link, a lot of them will not finish the purchase. Pick tools that deliver the file the moment the payment succeeds.
Razorpay for creators: the default for Indian buyers
Razorpay lets you accept UPI, debit and credit cards and netbanking and settles the money to your Indian bank account. You need an active account with KYC completed before you can go live. Its pricing page lists no setup fee and no annual maintenance charge on the standard plan, a 2% platform fee per successful domestic transaction on the standard plan, and 18% GST charged on that fee rather than on your sale amount. Fees change, so read razorpay.com/pricing yourself before you set your prices.
Because a fee is taken on every sale, it helps to price in round numbers that still leave a margin after the gateway fee and the GST on that fee. A Rs 499 template and a Rs 500 template feel the same to buyers, so set the price you actually want to receive and work backwards.
Stripe in India: invite-only for new accounts
Many creator tools assume you can connect Stripe in a few minutes. In India that is not true for new sellers. Stripe’s support article says plainly that Stripe services are invite-only in India and that businesses from India are not able to sign up for a new Stripe account through its website. To get one, you have to request an invite from Stripe’s sales team, and Stripe says it is focusing on a select number of businesses for now.
If you already have an active Stripe India account, Stripe says it will continue to support it, so you can keep using it. If you do not, do not plan your launch around getting one. Build on Razorpay and PayPal, and treat a Stripe invite as a bonus if it ever arrives. Also note that Stripe says an existing account’s country cannot be changed to or from India.
How to accept international payments in India
Option one is Razorpay international cards. The feature is not on by default. Razorpay’s documentation says it is enabled only after its banking partners approve it, and it lists the requirements: an active account with KYC completed, a business outside its unsupported categories, and a live website with clearly defined Terms and Conditions, Privacy, Refund and Cancellation, and Shipping policy pages. Razorpay says international payments cannot be enabled without those pages. You request it from the Dashboard under Account & Settings, then International payments. Its pricing page lists international cards at up to 3% per successful transaction plus GST on the fee.
Option two is PayPal. PayPal India’s help centre says that to receive international payments you need to verify your PAN, add an Indian bank account, choose a purpose code and describe the nature of your business. You also need to confirm your email and complete KYC before you can receive or withdraw funds. PayPal notes that with only Lite KYC, an individual or sole proprietor can receive one payment under $200; anything more needs Full KYC. The purpose code tells the bank why the money is coming in, so choose the one that honestly matches what you sell, and ask your CA if you are unsure which applies.
Many creators use both: Razorpay as the main checkout because Indian buyers trust UPI, and PayPal as a second button for buyers abroad who would rather not enter card details on an unfamiliar site.
Selling an ebook online in India, step by step
First, finish the product and export it as a clean PDF or EPUB. Add your name, a short licence note (personal use only, no resale) and a contact email inside the file. Second, write the four policy pages Razorpay asks for: Terms and Conditions, Privacy, Refund and Cancellation, and a Shipping page that explains delivery is digital and instant. You need these anyway if you want international cards.
Third, open your Razorpay account, complete KYC and connect it to your storefront. Fourth, set up PayPal with PAN verification, a bank account and a purpose code if you want overseas buyers. Fifth, put the product on a page with a clear title, a cover image, a three-line summary of what is inside, the price in rupees, and a buy button. Finally, test a real purchase with your own UPI before you share the link in your Instagram bio or YouTube description.
GST on digital products in India: the basics
India’s IGST Act defines “online information and database access or retrieval services” (OIDAR) as services delivered over the internet or an electronic network that are essentially automated, involve minimal human intervention and are impossible without information technology. The listed examples include e-books, movies, music, software and other intangibles delivered over the internet. A CBIC guidance flyer uses a paid e-book download as its example of OIDAR.
Registration is a separate question. Section 22 of the CGST Act ties the requirement to register to your aggregate turnover in a financial year, with a Rs 20 lakh limit in most states and a lower limit for special category states, and a CBIC press release from the 23rd GST Council meeting says service providers under that limit are exempt even when they supply inter-state. Sales to buyers outside India can be treated as exports of services, which come with their own conditions and paperwork.
This is general information, not tax advice. Your position depends on your total turnover, where your buyers are, how payments reach you and what else you sell, and the rules are revised over time. Before you cross a few lakh in sales, or the moment you start getting regular foreign payments, sit down with a chartered accountant and confirm whether you should register, what rate applies, and what records to keep.
Mistakes that cost Indian creators sales
The most common one is collecting money by personal UPI transfer and sending files by hand. It does not scale, it leaves no clean record for tax time, and buyers abroad cannot use it at all. The second is waiting months for a Stripe invite instead of launching on Razorpay. The third is applying for international payments without the policy pages, which Razorpay says will block approval.
Others are smaller but add up: pricing without accounting for gateway fees and GST on those fees, picking a PayPal purpose code at random, hiding the price until checkout, and never testing the delivery email. Fix these before you spend money on promotion.
Putting it together with OneSol
OneSol gives you a link-in-bio page, a storefront for digital products and forms in one place. You connect your own Razorpay account for Indian buyers, and your own PayPal or Stripe account if you have one, so payments go straight to you. OneSol takes no cut of your sales: you keep 100% minus whatever your payment provider charges. The free plan covers getting started, and Pro is $9 per month if you want more.
Whichever tools you use, the order stays the same: finish one product, set up Razorpay, add PayPal for overseas buyers, publish your policy pages, test a purchase, then share the link everywhere you already have an audience. Check the provider pages for current fees and confirm your GST position with a CA as your sales grow.