Are you running a subscription business in India? If you're a magazine seller, a tutor, a gym instructor, or a SaaS company, the idea of automatically charging customers on schedule has probably crossed your mind.
Over the last few years, there has been a gradual and global increase in the number of businesses opting for the recurring payments model. It should come as no surprise to see curiosity about this trend occurring among Indian businesses, as well. Recurring billing has a lot of perks from a merchant's perspective, including a steady revenue stream, better cash flow projection, high customer retention rate, and so on.
Why recurring billing is not mainstream yet in India.
As recurring billing has caught global attention, it has been streamlined and improved with current technology. One such aspect of recurring billing is the concept of auto-charge. Auto-charge lets merchants charge customer credit cards automatically without manual intervention. Though this seems like an efficient system to adopt to reduce manual work, in India—as you may already know—it comes with its fair share of complications. There have been a lot of discussions about the RBI's sketchy Two-factor Authentication (2FA) policies, and there's also the risk of chargebacks with regards to customer refunds.
Contrary to some earlier interpretations, recurring billing with auto-charge is very much feasible in India, provided the first transaction takes place with an appropriate form of Two-factor Authentication. An intermediate layer between banks and customers, in the form of a trustworthy payment gateway integration to balance the risk of chargebacks, is the need of the hour.
How you can use Zoho and Razorpay to enjoy seamless recurring payments.
Zoho's recently announced integration with Razorpay lets you bid adieu to these worries and get on board the recurring billing bandwagon. Periodic billing has never been easier: Just set up a recurring schedule and effortlessly auto-charge your customers' credit cards. As simple as that!
Merchants across India can streamline their billing cycles and enjoy a low risk of chargebacks without paying more than the minimal transaction fee of 2% plus service taxes. If you're using any of our finance apps (Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Subscriptions, and Zoho Inventory), setting up recurring billing with Razorpay is a breeze. Click here to learn more.
It's time to start charging your customers on auto mode with Zoho. You can comment below or drop in a mail at support[at]zohofinance[dot]com to share your thoughts and queries.
do you guys even embed for multi vendors?
I am curious to know if we can use this for media company that publishes magazines.
Hi Vijay, If your business sells magazines on a subscription basis, you can very well use Zoho Subscriptions to manage your recurring billing. Please take a look at our help documentation to learn more about the setup process. In case you run into any trouble, you can always give us a heads up at support@zohosubscriptions.com Regards, Abid
Great post. I will be dealing with many of these issues as well.. My web-site insurance claims advisor
Hi, Good to know! :) Let us know if you were able to try out Zoho Subscriptions and Razorpay and how it worked out for you. Regards, Abid
Do you provide Per-seat pricing ability in Zoho Subscriptions ?
Hi Anupal, Could you elaborate a little more on what you mean by "Per-seat pricing"? We'll be in a better position to assist you if we understand your requirement better. Kindly take a look at our help docs and see if there's anything in there of your use. You can also always write to us at support@zohosubscriptions.com to resolve your doubts and queries. :) Regards, Abid
I have been waiting for recurring payments to start in India as my online digital product is based on it. and gateways like ccavenue do only invoice billing and banks require manual uploading of bills. So this is a great feature. Does it integrate with joomla websites user management so that subscription information is automatically udpated
Hey Rohit, Thanks for the great feedback on the integration! We hope you were able to accept recurring payments using our Zoho Finance products without any hassles. :) Regarding the integration with Joomla, you can very well embed your hosted pages that were created using one of our apps like Zoho Subscriptions or Zoho Checkout as an iframe on your Joomla site and accept payments from customers. Do let us know if there's anything else you're looking for and we can assist you ASAP. Cheers, Abid