Hiring and paying freelancers in India: contracts, invoices, rates and how the money arrives

Short answer. Hire the freelancer under a simple contractor agreement, ask for an invoice in dollars or rupees with their tax ID and bank details (HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India), and pay the invoice from your Storspay balance: the exact rupees figure lands usually within minutes at the mid-market rate for 1% all-in, and both sides get a receipt with the invoice number. The freelancer needs no account and no app.

Who hires in India

Companies in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe hire Indian developers, designers, writers, analysts, support agents and virtual assistants — the sectors are software development shops, IT services firms, design and marketing agencies, BPO and KPO teams, pharmaceutical and machinery exporters, textile and garment manufacturers — mostly in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi NCR. The freelancer is a sole trader: they invoice, you pay, they handle their own tax.

The three documents

A contractor agreement (scope, rate, intellectual property, termination), a monthly or milestone invoice with the freelancer's tax ID and bank account, and the Storspay receipt that matches it. That is the file your accountant wants and the file the freelancer's bank may ask for.

Paying ten freelancers at once

Run Payroll pays the whole list in one batch — type each amount or upload a CSV — with one fee line and one statement. Each freelancer receives their own transfer, in rupees, with their own invoice reference. If one of them is also on Storspay as a sole trader, that payment is free and instant.

What is different about India

India is the largest market for remote professional services on earth and a bank-first corridor: every salaried professional and every registered company has an IFSC-coded bank account, and domestic rails (IMPS, NEFT) clear in minutes. What matters to an Indian recipient is the rupee amount that actually lands, because wires from the US or Europe routinely arrive short after correspondent-bank charges and a hidden FX spread. Storspay converts once at the mid-market rate and shows the 1% separately, so the rupee figure in the notification is the figure in the account.

How a payment to India works on Storspay

1. Fund your balance in USD (ACH or wire), CAD (Interac e-Transfer or EFT), GBP (UK bank transfer) or EUR (SEPA) — to account details in your own business name. Funding is free.
2. Add the recipient once: their name as it appears on the account, the bank (HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra and every other IFSC-coded bank) and the account number. Storspay checks the account name before you confirm.
3. Type the amount in either box. Enter what you want to send and see the rupees that land, or type the rupees figure on the invoice and see what it costs you. The rate is the mid-market rate; the 1% is on its own line.
4. Confirm. The money goes over IMPS or NEFT and usually lands within minutes — the same business day at most. The recipient gets a notification with the exact amount, and you get a receipt with the invoice reference.

Nobody in India has to sign up, install an app or touch anything other than their own bank account. Everything on the recipient side looks like an ordinary domestic transfer.

What it costs

Storspay charges 1% all-in on payments to India, with a minimum of US$2, at the mid-market rate. That one line covers conversion, settlement and delivery; there is no FX markup, no intermediary-bank charge and nothing deducted on the recipient side.

Rates in this guide are the mid-market rate on the day of writing (1 USD = 96.9643 INR); the calculator on the homepage shows today's. Payments above ₹1,500,000 are split automatically under the local cap, under one reference and one fee.

See what your team in India receives →

Questions businesses ask before the first payment to India

Should I pay in dollars or rupees?

Agree the rate in whichever currency the contract uses; Storspay shows both figures before you confirm, so a dollar-denominated invoice lands as the right number of rupees at the mid-market rate.

Is there withholding tax?

For an independent contractor in India, you pay the invoice in full and the freelancer handles their own income tax locally. If your home tax authority requires a form from foreign contractors (for example a W-8BEN for US payers), collect it at onboarding.

Can the freelancer hold dollars instead?

Yes, if they open a free Storspay sole-trader account: then they get USD account details in their own name, hold dollars, and cash out to their Indian bank whenever they choose. See Storspay for freelancers.

Can I pay a UPI ID instead of an account number?

Not yet. Storspay pays Indian bank accounts by account number and IFSC code; UPI handles are on the roadmap. Every UPI-linked account has an ordinary account number you can use today.

Is there a limit per payment to India?

Payments above ₹1,500,000 are split automatically under the local cap, under one reference and one fee — a large invoice never becomes several trips to the bank.

Does the recipient pay anything?

No. Storspay charges you 1% all-in (minimum US$2); the recipient receives the rupee amount shown. Their bank may apply its own inward-remittance charge for issuing an FIRC — ask them, it is usually a few hundred rupees.

Who this is for — and who it is not for

Storspay is for businesses and organisations: companies, agencies, schools, hospitals, facilitators, foundations and sole traders paying other businesses and professionals for work, goods and services. A sole trader counts as a business and signs up in their own name.

What Storspay is not is a personal money-transfer service. We do not open personal accounts, and every payment has to be a business transaction: an invoice, a contract, a fee note, work delivered. Money to family and personal transfers are not what this is, and we would rather say so now than at verification.