This additional offering will help provide Indian exporters with an alternative payment gateway offering and reduce export costs by up to 8%

The UK headquartered Winvesta, a neobank building cross-border banking and wealth management, has launched foreign payment collections for Indian exporters. The service comes as an extension of the existing multi-currency banking facility for Indian individuals. Businesses receive virtual accounts in 30+ currencies, including USD, GBP, and EUR. The accounts serve as collection accounts for service exporters to receive payments, which are then converted to INR and deposited into their Indian bank accounts the same day.

With this launch, Winvesta is providing exporters with an alternative to payment gateways that cost up to 8% of the amount collected. With Winvesta, exporters spend 1.50% in total collection costs, saving them up to over 80% in fees. Merchants get local account details in US, UK, and Europe, which means the buyers only have to do a local transfer to the exporter’s account. Winvesta supports payment collections from 180+ countries in 35+ currencies.

Swastik Nigam, Founder and CEO, Winvesta, said, “We are extremely excited to launch foreign collection accounts for businesses. Many Indian businesses get a raw deal. The collections are expensive, delayed and opaque. Much of that money never made it to Indian shores. With this launch, we change that. “

“While it was always a part of our larger vision, we are proud to have been able to offer it in such a short period of time. India’s cross-border flows are over $800Bn annually, and we want to make it easier for MSMEs to bring home more of what they earn overseas. We are receiving tremendous feedback from the early adopters. We are also receiving great interest from many domestic partners.”

SME exporters’ share in overall exports from India has been rapidly growing and is now close to 50% of total exports. This includes both service and goods exports. Improving logistics and easy e-commerce platforms have helped Indian businesses expand globally rapidly. At the same time, borderless marketing tools and collaborative platforms have led to a boom in digital exports from the service industry.

Prateek Jain, President, Winvesta, said, “Cross-border collections, unfortunately, lagged the rapid boom in exports from the SME segment. This leads to these businesses losing upto 0% of their margins in fees for collections, or worse, having the funds stuck in the process with no visibility. Winvesta’s mission is to simplify cross-border finances for everyone, whether individuals looking to invest overseas or an exporter looking to get paid by a foreign buyer. With India crossing the $400 bn mark in exports for the first time in a fiscal year, it not only marked a key milestone but also helped us realise the potential for such an offering at this point in time.”

Winvesta collection accounts have a one-time refundable setup fee of Rs. 499 ($25 for corporates), with no monthly fees. There are no fees to collect money in the accounts or to withdraw funds to an Indian bank. Foreign funds are converted to INR at a very low spread of 1.50% from interbank rates. With significant volumes, these rates can fall further.