Guide
How to pay for AI APIs in rupees (UPI, GST invoice, no dollar card)
Every major model provider bills in US dollars. For a developer or company in India that means an international card, a forex markup on every payment, and GST you have to work out yourself. This guide lays out the options, what each one actually costs, and how to end up with a bill your accountant will accept.
What a dollar API bill really costs from India
Take a model priced at $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens, and a month where you use 10 million input and 2 million output tokens. The provider's price is $60. Paid from an Indian card, the forex markup adds roughly 2 to 4%, and because the seller is outside India you owe 18% GST under reverse charge on top, with nothing to claim it against unless you are registered and file it yourself. At ₹98.86 per dollar that $60 lands closer to ₹7,177 than to ₹5,932.
None of that is hidden; it is just not on the pricing page. The pricing page shows the floor.
Option 1: pay each provider directly
Open accounts with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and whoever else you use. Each one needs an international card and bills separately in dollars. You get the provider's own dashboard and the first look at new features. You also get four invoices in four formats, four forex charges, and the reverse-charge GST to self-assess on each. Fine for a solo developer with a dollar card; heavy for a company.
Option 2: a dollar-billed gateway
OpenRouter and similar gateways collapse the accounts into one, which is a real improvement. The currency problem stays: one international card, one forex charge per top-up, one foreign receipt to self-assess GST on. Read our row-by-row comparison with OpenRouter if that is the one you use today.
Option 3: a rupee-billed gateway
Rapid Router is the same idea with the money handled in India. Top up with UPI or a card in rupees. Every recharge raises a GST invoice with our GSTIN, so a registered business claims the input credit and an unregistered one has a proper bill. The per-request price is the provider's list price per million tokens; the platform fee ( ) is charged once when you buy credits, and the currency margin is shown on the top-up screen before you pay. Models are the same models: Claude, GPT, Gemini and 550+ others behind one OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
See every model priced in rupees · GST on AI credits, the arithmetic both ways
Option 4: a hyperscaler marketplace
AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI and Google Cloud sell some of the same models and can bill an Indian entity in rupees under an enterprise agreement. Good when you already have a cloud commitment and a procurement team; slow and over-sized when you are a team of five who want a key today.
Which to pick
Solo developer with a dollar card and one provider: pay the provider directly. Company in India using two or more providers: a rupee-billed gateway, because the invoice problem compounds with every account. Enterprise with an existing cloud contract: the marketplace route, with a gateway in front for the models the marketplace does not carry.
Common questions
Can I pay for the OpenAI or Claude API with UPI?
Not directly: OpenAI and Anthropic bill in US dollars on international cards. Through Rapid Router you call the same models, top up with UPI or an Indian card in rupees, and get a GST invoice.
Why does my AI API bill come out higher than the dollar price?
Three things stack on a dollar bill paid from India: the card network forex markup (typically 2 to 4%), the bank or issuer markup, and 18% GST which you owe under reverse charge when the seller is outside India. The dollar price on the pricing page is the floor, not the total.
Do I still pay GST through Rapid Router?
Yes, GST applies either way. The difference is that Rapid Router charges it on the invoice, so a registered business can claim input credit and an unregistered one has a clean bill, instead of self-assessing reverse charge on a foreign receipt.
Does Rapid Router add a forex margin?
Rupee top-ups convert at the live rate plus a small currency margin that is shown before you pay, on the top-up screen and on the catalog. The per-request price is the provider list price; our platform fee is charged once when you buy credits.
What if I prefer to pay in dollars?
Dollar payment works too. Rupee billing is the default because most of our customers are in India, not a restriction.