1. Your options for receiving money
Foreign clients can pay you in three broad ways:
- Direct bank transfer (SWIFT wire) into your Indian bank account. Familiar and widely accepted, but intermediary banks along the route can deduct charges, and your bank sets its own exchange rate.
- Payment and collection platforms that give you local account details in the client's country, so the client pays as if paying locally. The platform converts and sends rupees to your bank.
- Marketplace or wallet payouts such as freelance marketplaces and online payment wallets, which convert when you withdraw.
None is best for everyone. The right choice depends on how much you receive, how often, and how much each route really costs you.
2. Work out the real cost
Providers make money in two ways: visible fees, and a hidden markup on the exchange rate. The fair benchmark is the mid-market rate, the midpoint between buying and selling rates that you see on financial websites. Compare what actually reaches your bank account with what you would get at the mid-market rate.
A provider with no fee can still cost more than one with a fee if its exchange rate is 2% worse. On $5,000 a month, a 1% difference adds up to about ₹50,000 a year. Ask each provider for a quote on the same amount and enter it in our Forex Remittance Comparer to see the difference in rupees.
Also check whether fees attract 18% GST in India, whether there are charges on the client's side, and how long money takes to arrive.
3. Get an e-FIRA or FIRC for every payment
A Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (e-FIRA, or the older FIRC certificate) is your bank's proof that foreign currency came into India for your services. It matters for GST, because export of services requires payment in foreign exchange and refund claims rely on it, and for income tax, because it supports the amounts in your return.
Most banks and platforms issue it on request or automatically. Download it every time a payment arrives, rather than trying to collect a year's worth at filing time.
4. Use the right purpose code
Banks report each inward remittance to the RBI with a purpose code describing the service, such as software, consulting or advertising. Give your bank or platform the code that matches your work. A wrong code can create mismatches with your GST and income-tax records, and can delay your money while the bank asks questions.
5. Keep the numbers that your CA will ask for
For each payment, keep the invoice, the amount in foreign currency, the date received, the rupee amount credited, the exchange rate applied, and the e-FIRA. Your rupee income for tax purposes is based on these records. Our Invoice Generator can record the exchange rate against each invoice and export everything to Excel.
6. Money held outside India
Under India's foreign exchange rules, payments for services you export must come into India within the time allowed; your bank can confirm the current limit for your case. If you are resident in India and keep a balance in a foreign account or wallet, that may also need to be reported in your income-tax return. Withdrawing payments to your Indian bank account regularly keeps both simple.
7. A quick checklist
- Compare at least two ways of getting paid, on the same amount
- Tell your bank or platform your correct purpose code
- Download the e-FIRA for every payment
- Record the exchange rate and rupee amount against each invoice
- Bring money into your Indian account regularly