Cashfree Payments Launches Zero-Fee Payment Gateway Offer for New Businesses Ahead of Festive Season

Cashfree Payments has announced a zero payment gateway fee offer for new businesses on the first Rs. 20 lakh GMV until 31 March 2027. The initiative includes instant onboarding, next-day settlements, and dedicated account management, helping small and medium-sized businesses maximise festive-season sales while improving cash flow and operational efficiency.

Cashfree Payments, India's leading AI-native payments company, has announced a major festive-season initiative by offering zero payment gateway fees for all new businesses signing up on its platform. Under the offer, eligible merchants will pay no payment gateway charges on the first Rs. 20 lakh of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) until 31 March 2027. The initiative is designed to support early-stage businesses and growing sellers operating through their own online sales channels by reducing transaction costs during one of the busiest sales periods of the year.

The company said the offer is intended to provide a strong launchpad for small and medium-sized businesses ahead of the festive season, a period when many merchants generate the majority of their annual revenue. While festive sales often drive significant business growth, they also bring increased financial pressure as promotional discounts, marketing campaigns, and payment gateway charges reduce profit margins. By eliminating payment gateway fees on the first Rs. 20 lakh of GMV, Cashfree Payments aims to allow businesses to redirect savings toward inventory expansion, advertising, logistics, and other operational requirements.

Akash Sinha, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cashfree Payments, said an average small and medium-sized business or direct-to-consumer brand generates nearly 40 percent of its annual sales during the festive season. He stated that ensuring a reliable payments infrastructure during this period is critical for business success. According to the company, nearly 90 percent of new sellers who sign up before the festive season record a GMV of less than Rs. 20 lakh during the entire festive period, meaning the offer effectively covers their complete festive sales cycle. He added that the initiative provides businesses with greater financial flexibility to invest in promotional offers, inventory, or other essential business needs.

In addition to the fee waiver, Cashfree Payments stated that new merchants can begin accepting payments within minutes of completing the registration process, compared with the industry norm of several days. Businesses enrolling under the offer will also receive next-day settlements instead of the conventional two-day settlement cycle, improving cash flow during peak sales periods. Every merchant joining through the programme will be assigned a dedicated account manager from the time of onboarding to provide continuous support throughout the festive season. The company said the combination of zero-cost onboarding, rapid activation, and faster settlements makes this one of the strongest festive-season payment solutions available for small and medium-sized businesses in India.

The promotional offer will remain available until 31 March 2027 for eligible new businesses registering on the Cashfree Payments platform.

Founded in 2015, Cashfree Payments has grown into one of India's largest payments platforms, processing more than USD 80 billion in transactions annually for over one million businesses, including high-growth startups, e-commerce companies, direct-to-consumer brands, small and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises.

The platform enables businesses to accept payments through more than 180 payment methods, offers one-click checkout to improve customer conversion rates, and supports cross-border payments across more than 176 countries and over 140 currencies. The company stated that its infrastructure processes up to 12,000 transactions per second, enabling uninterrupted handling of peak transaction volumes.

Beyond payment processing, Cashfree Payments also offers Secure ID, an identity verification platform featuring a comprehensive suite of application programming interfaces and Know Your Customer components. The solution is designed to help financial technology companies and startups simplify compliant customer onboarding by reducing manual data entry, verifying identity documents intelligently, and detecting fraud and anomalies with high accuracy.

Cashfree Payments also describes itself as India's first AI-native payments platform. The company stated that its technology enables artificial intelligence agents to process invoices and execute payments autonomously through its MCP server while allowing businesses to integrate payment capabilities directly into artificial intelligence chatbots through Cashfree Here.

The company further noted that it was among the first financial technology firms in India to secure all three Reserve Bank of India licences, including Payment Aggregator, Payment Aggregator-Cross Border, and Prepaid Payment Instrument. Cashfree Payments is backed by Y Combinator, Apis Partners, State Bank of India, KRAFTON, and was incubated by PayPal.

The announcement reinforces Cashfree Payments' strategy of supporting India's growing digital commerce ecosystem by reducing operational costs, accelerating merchant onboarding, improving cash flow, and strengthening payment infrastructure ahead of the country's busiest shopping season.