Subscriptions on a Shopify Store in India, How Payments Work

Subscriptions look simple on a Shopify demo store: add a "subscribe and save" option, the customer checks out once, and the app charges them every month. In India it rarely works that way, because the payment rules and the gateways are different. This guide explains why Shopify's own subscription app does not fit most Indian stores, how recurring payments actually work under RBI rules, which routes Indian brands can use today, and how to judge whether subscriptions suit your product at all.

Payment rules are from the Reserve Bank of India's e-mandate circulars, and platform details are from the Shopify Help Center, Razorpay docs and Cashfree docs, all checked on 9 October 2026. Gateway features change often, so confirm with your gateway before you build.

Can you use Shopify Subscriptions with Razorpay or Cashfree?

Not according to the current documentation. Shopify's Shopify Subscriptions considerations page says that to use the app you must choose from "Shopify Payments, PayPal Express, Authorize.net, Adyen, or Stripe", and that "payment gateway availability depends on your region and the gateway's terms of service."

That list matters because Shopify Payments is not available in India. India does not appear on Shopify's list of supported countries, and the page says that if your country is not listed you need to use a third-party payment provider. Indian stores therefore use providers such as Razorpay, Cashfree or PayU, and none of those is on the subscription list.

Razorpay is direct about it. Its Shopify plugin FAQ answers the question "Does Shopify support Subscriptions?" with "No, Shopify does not support Subscriptions", and lists WooCommerce, Magento and OpenCart as the platforms where Razorpay Subscriptions works. We could not find any Cashfree documentation describing a Shopify subscription integration either.

So the free Shopify Subscriptions app, which is the default answer in many global guides, is usually not an option for an Indian business collecting payments through an Indian gateway. If you have already read our comparison of Shopify subscription apps, treat every app on that list as "check the gateway first" before you look at features.

How do recurring payments work in India?

Every automatic repeat charge in India runs on a mandate that the customer approves once, under rules set by the Reserve Bank of India. The rules are the same whichever store platform you use, and they shape what a subscription can do.

The framework started with RBI's August 2019 circular on processing of e-mandate on cards for recurring transactions. The key points that still apply:

• Authentication at the start. The customer completes an additional factor of authentication (an OTP or UPI PIN) when the mandate is registered, modified or revoked, and for the first transaction.
• Later charges can run without it, up to a limit. RBI's June 2022 circular raised that limit from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 per transaction, for cards, prepaid payment instruments and UPI. Its December 2023 circular raised it to Rs 1,00,000 only for mutual fund subscriptions, insurance premiums and credit card bill payments. For a D2C product, the Rs 15,000 limit is the one that applies.
• A notice before every debit. The 2019 circular says the issuer "shall send a pre-transaction notification to the cardholder, at least 24 hours prior to the actual charge / debit", including the merchant name, amount, date and time, reference number and reason for the debit.
• The customer can stop it. On receiving that notice, the customer can opt out of that particular transaction or of the whole mandate.

The practical meaning for a brand: your customer is reminded before each renewal and can cancel from their bank or UPI app, without going through your store. A subscription in India has to keep earning its place every cycle.

Which payment methods can carry a subscription?

Three methods can carry a recurring mandate through Indian gateways. Razorpay's Subscriptions documentation lists cards, UPI and emandate. Cashfree's Subscriptions overview covers the same ground, with UPI AutoPay, bank account mandates and standing instructions on cards. The limits each gateway publishes:

For a typical D2C subscription, such as a monthly coffee, skincare or supplement refill, UPI AutoPay is the method most customers will understand, and its frictionless limit sits comfortably above most monthly order values. Cards matter for customers who prefer them. eNACH suits high-value or B2B-style billing more than a low-value refill box.

What are the real options for an Indian Shopify brand?

There are four routes, and they differ a lot in how much they depend on promises you cannot check from the outside.

1. A subscription app that supports Indian gateways. A few App Store listings name Razorpay among their supported gateways. SubscriptionFlow's listing says it lets you "run subscriptions using any payment gateway, not just Stripe" and lists Razorpay and PayU. Easy Subscriptions lists Razorpay under "Works with". Neither listing explains whether UPI AutoPay is supported, where the customer completes checkout, or how the mandate is created. Those are the questions to ask the vendor before you install.

2. Gateway-side subscriptions, connected to Shopify. Razorpay lets you create plans and subscription links from its dashboard and share them by email or SMS, with no code. Cashfree has its own subscription APIs. The billing then lives with the gateway, not in Shopify, so each renewal has to become a Shopify order somehow, through an integration or custom app, or your stock, fulfilment and customer records drift apart. This is the most flexible route and also the one that needs real development work.

3. Replenishment reminders without a mandate. Many brands do not need true subscriptions. A reminder on WhatsApp or email at the right interval, with a one-click reorder link and a returning-customer discount, gets a large part of the benefit with none of the payment complexity. Our Shopify Flow recipes for Indian brands and the WhatsApp Business API guide cover the tools for this.

4. Prepaid plans. Selling a three or six month pack, paid once and shipped in instalments, avoids recurring debits entirely. It changes your fulfilment and accounting, so plan both before you launch it.

What should you ask a subscription app vendor before installing?

Because Shopify's own documentation does not cover Indian gateways for subscriptions, the burden of proof sits with the app. Ask these in writing:

1. Which Indian gateways do you support for recurring charges today, and on which of them is UPI AutoPay live?
2. Does the customer pay inside Shopify checkout, or on your page or the gateway's page?
3. When a renewal is charged, how and when is the Shopify order created?
4. How are failed debits handled, and what does the customer see?
5. If the customer cancels the mandate from their UPI app or bank, how does your app find out?
6. Can customers skip, pause or change products from their account without contacting us?
7. If we leave your app, can the mandates move, or do customers have to sign up again?

The last question matters most. A mandate is held by the gateway against a specific merchant setup, and you should know before launch whether your subscriber base is portable.

Does a subscription model suit your D2C brand?

Subscriptions work when the product is used up on a predictable cycle and the customer would buy it again anyway. Coffee, tea, pet food, supplements, skincare refills and household consumables fit that pattern. Fashion, gifting, furniture and most electronics usually do not, because each purchase is a fresh decision.

Before you build, check three things honestly:

• Is the cycle predictable? If customers finish a pack anywhere between three and eight weeks, a fixed monthly debit will annoy half of them. Skip and reschedule controls become essential.
• Do the margins survive the discount? Subscription offers often include a discount. Work out your contribution margin per order after that discount, shipping and the gateway fee.
• Can operations handle it? Renewals arrive in batches on fixed dates. Stock, packing and courier pickups need to cope with those peaks.

Our earlier piece on subscription commerce on Shopify goes deeper into which categories suit the model. If the answers here are shaky, start with replenishment reminders and only move to mandates once you see real repeat behaviour.

What happens when a debit fails or a customer cancels?

Both will happen, and the RBI rules make cancellation easy by design. Every customer gets a pre-debit notice at least 24 hours before each charge, and can opt out of that charge or the mandate from it. Debits can also fail for ordinary reasons, such as insufficient balance or a mandate that has expired.

Plan for this before launch rather than after:

• Decide what the customer sees when a renewal fails, and whether the order is held, retried or cancelled.
• Send your own reminder before the bank's notice, so the customer hears about the renewal from the brand first, with an easy way to skip or swap.
• Make sure a mandate cancelled at the bank also stops future orders in Shopify, so you do not ship a box nobody paid for.

How do subscriptions fit with COD and GST?

Cash on delivery cannot carry a subscription, because there is no mandate to debit. If most of your customers buy on COD today, expect a smaller share to switch to a prepaid subscription, and design the offer to make prepaid worth it.

On GST, each renewal is a sale and needs its own invoice with the correct HSN code and tax, just like a one-time order. If renewals are created outside Shopify, confirm with your CA and your developer that invoices and tax records still line up. Our Razorpay and Cashfree comparison covers the gateway side of the setup.

Planning subscriptions for your Shopify store?

Free subscription setup review. Get in touch or email hello@exactwhy.com with the subject "Shopify Subscriptions India" and your store URL. Tell us which products you want to sell on subscription, which payment gateway you use and how many repeat customers you have today. We reply within 4 hours with the route that fits your gateway, the questions to settle with your app or gateway, and whether reminders would serve you better than mandates.

If you go ahead. We set up the subscription route that fits: app selection and configuration with your Indian gateway, or a custom integration that turns gateway renewals into Shopify orders, plus customer account controls, failed payment flows and reminders.