10 things to avoid when choosing the best payment gateway in India

With more customers opting for digital payments in India, choosing the right payment gateway is more important than ever. It directly influences checkout smoothness, transaction success rates and overall customer satisfaction.

Still, many businesses rush through the selection process and end up facing issues they didn't plan for. In this blog, we cover ten common mistakes to avoid when choosing from among the best payment gateways in India so that you can make a well-informed, future-ready decision.

Payment gateway selection pitfalls and how to avoid them

Choosing from among the best payment gateways in India is a strategic decision that directly affects your customer experience, revenue and long-term scalability. While many providers highlight features like fast onboarding or wide coverage, there are several hidden challenges businesses often overlook.

Here are ten common mistakes and how to avoid them when evaluating some of the best payment gateways in India:

1. Hidden charges

Providers may advertise low transaction fees but add setup costs, withdrawal charges and surcharges per payment mode that erode your margins. You may also face monthly minimums or premium rates for international transactions or digital wallets without notice.

How to avoid: When evaluating the best payment gateways in India, request an itemised fee schedule covering setup and withdrawals and each payment mode. Compare providers side by side and negotiate volume-based rate reductions where possible.

2. Integration complexity

Gateways lacking advanced Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Software Development Kits (SDKs), Point-of-Sale (PoS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) connectors require custom work, slowing your launch and inflating development costs.

How to avoid: Ensure your shortlist offers clean APIs, SDKs and prebuilt plugins for popular platforms. Run a proof of concept early to surface compatibility issues and streamline rollout.

3. Poor mobile experience

A checkout that is not optimised for smartphones and has slow load times, clunky forms or no one-click payments leads to high abandonment. Without tokenisation or support for digital wallets, mobile users will drop off.

How to avoid: Prioritise mobile-first gateways offering responsive flows, one-click tokenised checkouts and built-in wallet integrations. Test across devices and network conditions before go-live.

4. Limited local payment options

Failing to support UPI, UPI Lite and debit/credit cards and net banking or Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services excludes large customer segments. Each unsupported method drives buyers to competitors.

How to avoid: Select gateways that cover all major local instruments and verify live transaction success rates for each channel.

5. Low success rates

Frequent transaction failures due to poor routing infrastructure or downtime undermine conversions and increase support calls. A success rate below 95 percent can cost lost sales and decrease trust.

How to avoid: Insist on gateways that maintain success rates above 95 percent. Request real-time performance dashboards, details on smart-routing and automatic failover mechanisms.

6. Weak refund and dispute processes

Slow refunds, unclear escalation paths and manual chargeback handling damage customer trust and increase support workload.

How to avoid: Clarify T+1 refund timelines, automation levels and escalation protocols up front. Look for self-service dispute portals and automated reversal workflows.

7. Insufficient security

Non-compliance with either the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) or local regulations exposes you to fraud and legal risk.

How to avoid: Verify end-to-end encryption, tokenisation, fraud-detection measures and adherence to regulatory guidelines. Demand audit reports or compliance certificates.

8. Lack of analytics

Without real-time reporting, you cannot spot performance issues or generate timely financial reports. Reliance on third-party tools adds cost and complexity.

How to avoid: Ensure that the gateway provides live dashboards, custom reports and alerting for finance, operations and fraud teams.

9. Unreliable support

Inconsistent service hours or slow response times delay resolution during critical failures and hit revenue.

How to avoid: Choose from the best payment gateways in India offering 24-hour support via chat, email and phone. Review client feedback on response and resolution times.

10. Poor scalability

Gateways that cannot handle growing transaction volumes or advanced features such as subscriptions and split settlements become bottlenecks as you expand.

How to avoid: Opt for gateways with multi-currency processing, recurring billing and instant payouts with split-settlement capabilities built on scalable cloud architecture.

Make a smarter choice for long-term growth

Choosing from among the best payment gateways in India is about more than features. It means selecting a solution that aligns with your goals, boosts efficiency and ensures secure, seamless payments. Avoiding common mistakes helps you choose a gateway that delivers both reliability and revenue.

A trusted provider like Pine Labs Online can help you stay clear of various issues while offering a future-ready platform that scales with your business. Make your payment infrastructure a competitive advantage. Choose better to grow smarter.