2025 updates to India verification requirements

Why do I need to update my business information?

Stripe regularly reviews and updates its verification requirements to stay current with financial regulations and ensure businesses that use Stripe are compliant. For Indian businesses accepting card payments or making transfers, we’re updating how we collect, validate, and verify business information. As a result, you may need to provide updated information. Our goal is to help ensure safe and uninterrupted access to the payments ecosystem for you.

Read on to learn what new information will be collected and what are valid inputs.

What actions do I need to take?

Log in to your Dashboard to see the actions you need to take, and review the resources below to learn more about the type of information you may need to provide. The specific information you need to provide may vary depending on your business type.

For Companies

Gender and Nationality

Account Representatives and Business Owners will now see additional fields for Gender and Nationality.

Address Validation

To comply with regulations, we need to collect both the registered address and the trading address for your company. You can enter your PIN code, and we'll automatically populate some of the fields for you to make the process easier.

PAN Validation

We will be verifying your PAN for Aadhaar seeding. According to Section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act 1961, everyone who has been assigned a Permanent Account Number (PAN) and is eligible to obtain an Aadhaar number must link their PAN to Aadhaar. If the PAN is not linked to Aadhaar, it will become "inoperative."

Please ensure that the name and date of birth are updated and match the details you have provided to us.

  • You can check the status of your PAN here
  • If you have not linked Aadhaar with PAN before, you can link your Aadhaar with PAN here

Business URLs

Stripe requires all merchants who sell or promote products or services online to provide the URL of their business website, social media profile or mobile application when completing account activation. Going forward, if you are an online business, we will be verifying the following URLs

  • Business website
  • Terms and Conditions (T&C)
  • Return/Refund/Cancellation policy
  • Privacy policy

Please ensure that your websites are accessible and contain relevant information

  • Read more about India specific URL Requirements here.
  • Information about Transaction Purpose Codes can be found here

Accepting International Payments

If you accept international payments or your purpose code is categorised under "exports of Goods," you will need to provide an Import Export Code (IEC). We will verify that your IEC is active and matches your business name and structure. This is required to comply with updated requirements for accepting international payments.

  • You can learn more about IEC requirements here
  • Details about Transaction Purpose Code are here

Ultimate Business Owner

Companies and partnerships are required to identify at least one beneficial owner or an individual with significant control over the board.

  • For Companies: The beneficial owner is defined as the natural person(s) who hold a controlling ownership interest or who own/are entitled to more than 10% of the shares, capital, or profits of the company.
  • For Partnerships: The beneficial owner is the natural person(s) who have ownership of or entitlement to more than 10% of the capital or profits of the partnership, or who exercise control through other means.

We will need to collect the following information: Legal Name, Email, Job Title, Nationality, Date of Birth, Gender, and Address. The beneficial owner can be of either Indian or non-Indian nationality. For Indian nationals, their identity will be verified using their PAN. Non-Indian nationals may provide a copy of their passport for verification.

GST/CIN/LLPIN

We are implementing extra checks for GST, CIN, and LLPIN. The company name declared on your GST/CIN/LLPIN must match your business name, and these IDs need to be valid and active.

  • CIN Verification: We will also review the CIN to identify Not-for-Profit companies, which are currently not supported in India. Please verify that your business does not fall under the Prohibited and Restricted business categories here.
  • GST Status: You can check the status of your GST here. Please ensure that you have an active GST ID.

These requirements are for Individuals and Sole Proprietorships.

For Individuals and Sole Proprietorships

Gender and Nationality

Account Representatives will now see additional fields for Gender and Nationality. Only Indian nationals can operate as an Individual and Sole Prop account. If you want to consider changing your business type, please navigate to your Tax Details Section under Business Settings.  

ID Verification

To confirm your identity, please provide your Aadhaar or Voter ID. We'll use Digilocker to verify your ID. If you don't have a Digilocker account, you can create one here to speed up the verification process.

PAN Validation

We will be verifying your PAN for Aadhaar seeding. According to Section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act 1961, everyone who has been assigned a Permanent Account Number (PAN) and is eligible to obtain an Aadhaar number must link their PAN to Aadhaar. If the PAN is not linked to Aadhaar, it will become "inoperative."

Please ensure that the name and date of birth are updated and match the details you have provided to us.

  • You can check the status of your PAN here
  • If you have not linked Aadhaar with PAN before, you can link your Aadhaar with PAN here

[Sole Props Only]Additional Options to verify Sole Props

To verify your sole proprietorship, you can now use additional documents. Please ensure the name and details on your chosen document or ID match the information you have provided to us.

  • Udyam Registration Certificate
  • VAT
  • Shop & establishment verification
  • Udhyog Aadhaar/MSME certificate
  • Central Sales Tax (CST)

FAQ

What happens if I fail to complete the required verifications by the deadline?

Your account's ability to accept payments and receive payouts may be temporarily paused if the required information is not provided by the due date. Typically, you have 14 days from the due date to provide updated information before payouts are paused, and 28 days from the due date before payments are paused

What should I do if I'm unable to provide the required information?

If you're unable to provide the required information, please contact Stripe Support and we'll work with you to come up with an alternative solution.

How will I be notified if there are issues with my verification documents?

On your Stripe Dashboard: If there are outstanding verification requirements for your account, you will see a red banner at the top of your Dashboard. You can click "Review details" on the banner to see what is needed to verify your account.

In some cases, if your documents are not accepted for verification, Stripe will send you a feedback email explaining why the document isn't acceptable and what issues were found.

Please check your Dashboard regularly and email for any notifications or feedback regarding your verification documents.

Guidelines for uploading verification documents

In some cases, we may ask for additional documents to verify your business. To ensure a smooth and efficient document verification process, please consider these guidelines to prevent any delays or complications:  

  • The format must be no more than one step removed from the original document:
    • Document copies and scans must be in PDF format and taken directly from the original document; they can’t be processed, converted, or embedded in other files
    • A picture of a physical document must be the original, unprocessed picture in JPEG or PNG format. Screenshots of physical IDs are not acceptable
  • Photos and scans of Photo IDs must be in colour
  • Photos of paper documents must be in colour, but scans of paper documents (not Photo IDs) may be black and white
  • Identity and legal entity documents must not be expired
  • Documents must be readable and in a valid upload file format (PDF, JPEG, or PNG)
  • Documents must not be cropped or missing pages with crucial information, and all borders must be visible

How does Stripe ensure the security and privacy of the information I provide during verification?

Stripe stores verification data securely using access controls and security standards that are at least as stringent as those for handling our own payment compliance and KYC data. We use TLS encrypted connections for data transfer and AES-256 encryption for data at rest. For more information, see: How are you keeping my verification data safe?

You can also check out our more detailed FAQ.

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