Paying hospitals and clinics in India: a guide for medical-travel facilitators, insurers and employers

Short answer. A hospital in India sends a treatment estimate in rupees and asks for a deposit before admission. The organisation paying — a medical-travel facilitator, an insurer, an employer's health plan, a referring clinic — pays the exact figure through Storspay to the hospital's bank account at the mid-market rate for 1% all-in, with the patient's name and the estimate number as the reference, and the admissions desk sees a matching domestic credit usually within minutes.

Medical travel in India, and how the money moves

India is one of the world's largest destinations for medical travel — cardiac surgery, orthopaedics, oncology, IVF, transplants and dental work in hospitals in Chennai, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with patients arriving from Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Iraq, Bangladesh and the Gulf. The money usually moves between organisations: a medical-travel facilitator, an insurer, an employer's health plan or a referring clinic pays the hospital's deposit and settles the final bill. Storspay pays the hospital in rupees the same day, with the patient's name and the hospital's estimate number in the reference, so the admissions desk can match it.

Deposit, treatment, final bill

Add the hospital once as a recipient. Pay the deposit with the estimate number and the patient's name in the reference; when the final bill comes, pay the balance the same way. A facilitator with several patients in treatment pays all the hospitals in one batch and files one statement; each hospital sees its own credits with its own references.

If you are the hospital or clinic

Hospitals and clinics with referring partners abroad can send a Storspay payment request for the deposit and the final bill, and the partner pays it from their balance. Collecting from partners in North America, the UK, Europe and Africa is live today; getting paid from India itself is not yet.

Documents, tax IDs and what the recipient's bank may ask

Inbound business payments to India go through the recipient's authorised-dealer bank. The recipient's bank may ask for the purpose of the payment (a purpose code such as P0802 for software consultancy, P0801 for IT services, or the goods-export codes for merchandise), the invoice, and the recipient's PAN. Exporters of goods and services usually want a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) or an e-FIRA from their bank to close the export entry and claim GST refunds — ask the recipient whether they need one before the first payment, and keep the Storspay receipt with the invoice on your side.

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

Can a patient pay their own bill through Storspay?

Storspay is for organisations — facilitators, insurers, employers, clinics. A patient paying personally should ask the hospital's international desk which methods it accepts.

Does the hospital need a Storspay account?

No. It receives a domestic credit in rupees to its existing bank account, with the patient reference you typed.

What if the final bill is lower than the deposit?

The hospital refunds the difference on its side as it would for any patient. Storspay payments are final once sent, so pay the deposit the hospital asks for and settle the balance against the final bill.

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.