Xflow ties up with HSBC so foreign firms can take UPI payments from Indian buyers
Cross-border payments startup Xflow has partnered with HSBC to let international companies accept payments from customers in India through UPI, net banking and cards, without having to register a local legal entity. The tie-up was announced on Wednesday, 10 September, on day two of the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai, Inc42 reported.
Xflow said in a release distributed via PRWeb that the service, called India Collections, routes cross-border transactions over India's domestic payment rails, turning what used to be an international card payment into a local checkout. The company is backed by Stripe, PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst.
The problem it is trying to solve
International card payments in India fail at high rates. Xflow's release said success rates for international cards in the country are below 70 per cent, while bank wire transfers often face settlement delays. Inc42 put the failure rate for international card payments at more than 30 per cent. By contrast, UPI accounts for roughly 85 per cent of India's digital payment volume, according to the release.
Xflow and HSBC are projecting success rates above 95 per cent for payments made through the local methods, Inc42 reported.
"Getting paid by customers in India has always been harder than it should be, and global businesses lose real revenue because of it," Ashwin Bhatnagar, Xflow's co-founder and CEO, said in the release.
Who it is aimed at
The product targets foreign software-as-a-service providers, AI companies, e-commerce and consumer-tech platforms, online travel and booking sites, and edtech firms that sell to Indian users but have no Indian subsidiary. Support for recurring payments is included, which matters for subscription businesses.
Xflow operates under the RBI's Payment Aggregator – Cross Border framework. The company said it works with nearly 20,000 businesses across more than 100 countries and 25-plus currencies, grew tenfold in 2025 and raised a $16.6 million Series A earlier this year at an $85 million valuation, taking total funding past $32 million.
Part of a busy fintech week
The announcement was one of several partnerships unveiled at GFF 2026 on Wednesday, Inc42 reported. Mahindra Finance expanded its voice-AI deployment with Sarvam AI to 12 Indian languages; Yes Bank and Open launched an agentic AI platform for recurring-payment failures; Navi partnered with IndusInd Bank on a new UPI payment switch; and MobiKwik widened its retail forex offering to six currencies.
The Xflow-HSBC deal also builds on earlier NPCI moves. In July, NPCI tied up with HSBC India and J.P. Morgan Payments to enable real-time foreign exchange on overseas UPI payments, Business Standard had reported.
What happens next
Xflow said the India Collections service is live for merchants onboarding now. The test will be whether the promised 95 per cent success rate holds at scale and whether HSBC's involvement brings larger multinational merchants onto UPI rails. More cross-border UPI products are expected as GFF 2026 continues through the week.