Starting an ecommerce agency in India: payments, GST and pricing in rupees

An ecommerce agency in India has to get three things right before the first client goes live: the payment methods Indian shoppers expect, GST for the agency and for each client, and plans priced in rupees that pay you every month. This guide covers all three.

This guide is for web and marketing agencies in India that build and run online stores for clients. For the full plan from zero, read how to start an ecommerce agency. Here we cover what is different in India.

This is an overview of Indian rules as published by the government and the RBI, checked on 21 October 2026. It is not legal or tax advice. Check the sources below and speak to a chartered accountant or lawyer before you act.

Which payment methods do client stores in India need?

Plan every Indian client store around three ways to pay: UPI, cards and cash on delivery, with bank transfer as an extra for larger orders.

• UPI. The Unified Payments Interface was launched in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), under the oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to the government, it handled more than 24,162 crore transactions in 2025–26.
• Cards, netbanking and wallets. Online shops take these through a payment provider. The RBI regulates the payment aggregators that do this work, and its 2025 directions cover how they check the merchants they sign up. Expect each client to submit business and bank documents before payments go live, and plan that time into your launch dates.
• Cash on delivery. Lets a shopper pay when the parcel arrives, which helps a new shop win a first order. The money reaches the shop later, through the courier, and a refused parcel still costs shipping, so agree with each client where and when to offer it.
• Bank transfer. Useful for large or business orders.

How DripFunnel handles this: each client shop connects its own Razorpay, Cashfree or PhonePe account for UPI and cards, and can also turn on cash on delivery and bank transfer. Shoppers pay the merchant directly, and DripFunnel takes no fee on orders. Cash on delivery orders stay “Payment pending” until the merchant marks them paid, and shops ship with Shiprocket. See Connect a payment method.

How does GST work for an ecommerce agency in India?

GST touches your agency’s own fees and your clients’ sales in different ways. Keep the two apart.

GST on your own agency fees

Under section 22 of the CGST Act, a supplier must register for GST once its aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds ₹20 lakh, or ₹10 lakh in the special category states. Ask your accountant whether registering before you reach the threshold makes sense for your clients and your costs.

If you also serve clients abroad, the GST portal explains that a registered business can provide services to a client outside India without paying integrated tax, by filing a Letter of Undertaking (form GST RFD-11) before it makes those supplies. Ask your accountant whether it applies to you.

GST for your clients’ shops

Your clients sell goods, and the rules are different. Section 22 lets states raise the threshold up to ₹40 lakh for suppliers of goods only. But section 24 lists people who must register whatever their turnover, starting with anyone making inter-State taxable supplies. An online shop that ships to buyers in other states is likely to be in that group, subject to any exemptions the government has notified. Raise it with each client on day one, before the shop takes orders.

How DripFunnel handles this: the merchant adds their GSTIN in the store settings, chooses whether prices include GST, and sets tax rates for each kind of product. The shop works out CGST and SGST or IGST from the shopper’s state, and Reports show “GST you owe”. DripFunnel doesn’t file returns; the merchant gives the export to their accountant. See How tax is worked out in each country.

What do India’s e-commerce rules ask of an online shop?

The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 set duties for sellers and e-commerce businesses, including a grievance officer for complaints. In September 2026 the government amended them, with the changes in force from 1 January 2027. Among them: an announced price cut must show both the reduced price and the “prior price” (the lowest in the previous 30 days), and businesses must follow the 2023 dark patterns guidelines, with a yearly self-audit.

For an agency, this shapes the sale pages, offer banners and checkout flows you build. Ask a lawyer which rules apply to each client.

How should you price client stores in rupees?

The model we recommend is a one-time set-up fee for the build, then a monthly plan that covers the platform, small changes and support. It turns each new client into income that keeps coming. The guide to charging clients monthly explains what to include, and ecommerce website pricing for agencies covers the set-up fee.

With plans like these, 25 clients on an average of ₹4,000 a month would bring in ₹1,00,000 a month before the platform’s wholesale fee and your costs. That too is an example, not a promise. To work out what you keep on each plan, read agency margin maths.

Two Indian details to settle before you send a proposal. First, say clearly whether your rupee prices include GST. Second, if you collect the monthly fee by card or UPI autopay, the RBI’s E-mandate Framework, 2026 applies: the client registers the mandate once with an extra authentication step, gets a notice at least 24 hours before each debit, and recurring debits of up to ₹15,000 each can go through without a fresh authentication. Above that, each debit needs the client to approve it. Keeping monthly plans within that limit, or billing larger plans yearly, makes collection smoother.

How DripFunnel helps agencies in India

DripFunnel’s white-label partner programme is built for agencies that want to run client stores under their own name. More than 75 partners across the globe use it. For an agency in India, that means:

• Your brand on the portal. Clients sign in to a merchant portal with your product name, logo and colours, on your own address, with your support details. See Put your brand on the merchant portal.
• Your plans, in rupees. You set monthly and yearly prices for each plan in every currency your contract allows, including rupees, and the console shows DripFunnel’s fee and what you keep. See Create your plans and prices.
• Indian payments and delivery. Each client connects Razorpay, Cashfree or PhonePe, and can offer cash on delivery and bank transfer, with Shiprocket for shipping.
• Faster builds. The AI designs a storefront from a plain description, and clients on Shopify can bring their products across.
• One console. Each store’s plan, status and last month’s sales, never its customers’ details.

If you are comparing this with Indian store builders, read Shopify alternatives for agencies in India. For the bigger picture on running stores under your own brand, start with white-label ecommerce explained.

Can an Indian agency serve clients abroad?

Yes. Each client shop follows the payments and rules of the country it sells in, and today payments on DripFunnel are available to shops in India and the United States. If you have clients in America, read running an ecommerce agency in the US; if you are thinking about the Gulf, read what to know about the UAE.

When you are ready, tell us about the stores you run or plan to run. We agree your wholesale fee and contract, and we can walk through the setup with you in a guided session. The steps are in Join the partner programme and go live.

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