How to pay affiliates in India

Paying affiliates in India can be expensive if you don't chose a specialised payments company. Banks usually charge £9-£25 for an international payment and up to 4% in conversion fees. Add to that unpredictable receiving and intermediary bank fees, and it's clear you can't run your affiliate network using SWIFT payments.

The two most popular choices are Paypal and Payoneer. Paypal's mass payments tool lets you send money to an email address, making it very easy to get set up. The cost is typically 2% (max $30), plus a 2.5% exchange rate mark-up, but for many businesses it's the easiest way to get started and most of the cost is born by the payee. However, Paypal doesn't support India, so we're left with Payoneer.

Payoneer allows you to use GBP, EUR or USD for making mass payouts. For your payee to receive funds, they need a Payoneer prepaid debit card, which they can use to spend their Payoneer balance. The pay-out fee is $5.95, plus a conversion fee of up to 3.5%. they can also receive the funds to an local bank account in India and roughly the same cost.

If you are making a lot of payments, these costs quickly add up. Another solution is TransferWise, and we are currently trialling a mass payments solution with a limited number of customers. With TransferWise, the fee is 0.7% and there is no exchange rate mark-up or receiving fees. You can apply for access to the beta program herehttps://transferwise.com/u/erikj.