You’ve built the website, the products are live, and then the payment gateway application comes back “on hold”. This is one of the most common delays in a D2C launch, and almost always for fixable reasons. Payment aggregators in India are regulated by the RBI and must verify every merchant they onboard, so they check your documents and your website.
Documents you’ll usually need
- PAN of the business (and of the proprietor or directors)
- Certificate of incorporation or partnership deed, for companies and LLPs
- GST certificate (some gateways onboard very small businesses without it, but having it avoids limits and delays)
- A current account in the business name, with a cancelled cheque or bank statement
- Address proof of the business
- KYC documents of the authorised signatory
The name on your bank account, GST and PAN should match exactly. Mismatches are the number one cause of rejection.
Pages your website must have before you apply
RBI rules require payment aggregators to make sure merchant websites clearly show their terms and their returns and refunds timelines. Gateways check for these pages, linked from your footer:
- Terms and Conditions
- Privacy Policy
- Refund and Cancellation Policy, including how many days refunds take
- Shipping and Delivery Policy, including delivery timelines and areas served
- Contact Us with a working email, phone number and business address
Write them for your business. Copied templates that mention another company’s name or country are an instant red flag.
What else the risk team looks at
- Live products with prices. A “coming soon” page or products without prices usually gets held.
- A working checkout that reaches the payment step.
- Your category. Some categories (supplements, cosmetics, certain health products) may need licences uploaded. Keep your FSSAI or cosmetics licence handy.
- Claims. Products that promise to cure diseases or look counterfeit are flagged.
- Domain and email. A business email on your own domain looks far more credible than a free email address.
Choosing a gateway
Compare on what matters for D2C: transaction fees by payment method, settlement time, UPI and card success rates, COD and RTO tools, subscription support, and how good their support is when something breaks during a sale. Many brands keep a second gateway as a backup.
After approval
- Test every payment method with a small real transaction
- Set up refund flows back to the original payment method
- Turn on payment-failure recovery messages (email or WhatsApp)
- Track payment success rate weekly; a sudden drop is lost revenue
Requirements vary by gateway and change over time. Check the current onboarding checklist of the gateway you choose.
Launching a D2C website? Zobo builds Shopify and WooCommerce stores with compliant policy pages and gateway onboarding done for you. Book a free call.
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