Cross-border biz to drive up to 15% of Cashfree's FY26 topline: Co-founder

Fintech firm Cashfree Payments' co-founder Reeju Datta says cross-border segment is the fastest-growing, and operates on a higher margin than domestic transactions

Building on its gains in the domestic payments market, fintech firm Cashfree Payments is doubling down on its cross-border transactions business, with the category expected to contribute around 10 to 15 per cent of topline in the ongoing financial year.

 

This comes at a time when cross-border transactions, unlike domestic payments infrastructure, require a different operational approach, co-founder Reeju Datta explained.

 

This is in different forms, such as the ability to handle complex risk parameters, better product expertise, and a higher transaction success rate for merchants.

 

All of this also means that margins are better than processing domestic payments alone.

 

Cashfree Payments was the first entity to receive the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s approval to become a payment aggregator for cross-border payments for imports and exports in 2023.

 

Since then, the market has evolved to have more than 20 players with the licence.

 

“There is that early mover advantage for us since capabilities take time to build. A lot of foreign businesses want to come to India, especially when it is the second-largest consumer of AI. A tech shift is underway where big merchants will be coming here,” he said.

 

Datta added that the contribution of revenue from cross-border payments will go up to 25 to 30 per cent by the end of the next financial year, 2026–27 (FY27).

 

“It is the fastest-growing segment for us, growing about 3.5 times, or 250 per cent. It is a slightly higher-margin business, but that is because of the higher element of risk, product expertise, and lower existing supply of service providers,” he said.

Why are cross-border payments gaining traction amid UPI dominance?

The focus on cross-border payments also comes at a time when more than eight out of 10 digital payments transactions are on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which for long has had a zero merchant discount rate (MDR), meaning fintechs and banks bear processing costs.

 

Interestingly, Datta said the firm was also recording transaction flows from cities such as Surat, Jaipur, Tirupur, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and others. Each city brings with it distinct export potential: gems and diamond jewellery from Surat, textiles from Tirupur, and so on.

How is Cashfree expanding its global payments infrastructure?

“We support 140 currencies across 176 countries. We have invested in a vertically integrated stack, built authorisation switches and authentication switches for cards, and other things,” he said.

 

The kind of businesses tapping into cross-border payments include those offering services such as artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-led software-as-a-service (SaaS), digital goods like content, e-commerce, among others.

 

Meanwhile, as companies deepen their footprint in the country and domestic merchants expand overseas, growth is expected to follow — driving higher transaction volumes for fintechs.