You have signed up with a gateway, the dashboard says “Activation pending”, and an email has arrived asking for a list of papers you were not expecting. Some of them you have. Some you have never heard of. One upload has already been rejected with a reason that says only “document unclear”.
This post sorts out the payment gateway KYC documents most Indian gateways ask for, grouped by the type of business you run, plus the website checks that hold up approval more often than the paperwork does. It is general information, not legal or financial advice: every gateway publishes its own list, and that list is the one that counts.
Why a gateway asks for KYC at all
A gateway is not only software. It sits between your customers’ banks and your bank, and it is answerable to its partner banks and to the regulator for who it lets collect money. Before it switches on live payments, it has to confirm three things: that you are who you say you are, that the bank account receiving the money belongs to you or your business, and that what you sell is allowed under its policies.
That last point surprises people. Approval is not just a document check. Someone at the gateway, or an automated system, also looks at your website and your business category. A complete set of papers with a half-built website can still be held back.
Payment gateway KYC documents by business type
The list depends mostly on how your business is legally set up. What follows is the pattern most gateways in India follow. Treat it as a starting checklist, then compare it with the exact list in your gateway’s onboarding screen or help centre.
Individual or sole proprietor
- PAN of the owner. For a proprietorship, the business usually uses the owner’s PAN.
- Identity and address proof of the owner, such as Aadhaar, passport, voter ID or driving licence.
- Proof that the business exists, if you have one: GST registration certificate, Udyam registration, or a shop and establishment licence from your state.
- Bank account proof: usually a cancelled cheque or a recent bank statement showing the account holder’s name, account number and IFSC.
If you have no business registration at all, read our separate guide on getting a gateway as an unregistered seller, because the options and limits are different.
Partnership firm
- PAN of the firm.
- The partnership deed.
- PAN and identity proof of the partners, or of the partners who will sign.
- Bank account proof in the firm’s name.
- GST certificate or another registration, where you have one.
Private limited company or LLP
- PAN of the company or LLP.
- Certificate of incorporation.
- For a company, the memorandum and articles of association. For an LLP, the LLP agreement.
- PAN and identity proof of the directors or designated partners, and sometimes a board resolution naming who can operate the account.
- Bank account proof in the company’s name.
- GST certificate, if registered.
Trusts, societies and NGOs
These usually need the registration certificate, the trust deed or society bylaws, PAN of the organisation, and identity proof of the trustees or office bearers. Some gateways treat donations as a separate category with its own checks, so tell them up front that you will collect donations rather than sell products.
The website checks that stall approval
This is often where an activation actually gets stuck. A reviewer opens your site and looks for signs that it is a real, working business that customers can contact and complain to. Before you submit, make sure your site has:
- Clear contact details. A business email, a phone number and an address that matches, or at least does not contradict, your documents.
- A privacy policy describing what you collect and why.
- Terms and conditions for using the site and buying from you.
- A refund and cancellation policy that says what happens if a customer wants their money back.
- A shipping or delivery policy for physical goods, or a note on how services are delivered.
- Visible prices. Products or services listed with prices in the currency you will charge.
- No placeholder content. “Lorem ipsum”, a theme’s demo products or a “coming soon” page are common reasons for a hold.
The business name on the site should also make sense next to the name on your bank account. If your shop trades as “Mira’s Kitchen” but the account is in your personal name, say so in the business details field, and make sure the legal name appears somewhere on the site, usually in the footer or the terms page.
Common reasons an upload gets rejected
When a document comes back, the message is often vague. The cause is usually a dull one:
- Name mismatch. The name on PAN, bank proof and registration are spelt differently, or one uses initials. Small differences can trigger a manual review.
- Cropped or blurred scans. All four corners of a document should be visible. Phone photos taken at an angle, or in poor light, get rejected.
- Old bank statements. Gateways normally want a recent one. If yours is months old, download a fresh copy from net banking.
- Password-protected PDFs. Many bank statements download with a password. Upload a version the reviewer can open.
- Address that does not match. Your GST address, the address on your site and your proof of address point to three different places.
- Business category confusion. You picked a category in the form that does not match what the website sells.
- Restricted products or services. Every gateway keeps a list of businesses it will not serve or will only serve after extra checks. Read it before you apply, not after.
Video KYC, extra questions and follow-ups
Some gateways ask the owner or a signatory to complete a short video verification, holding up an identity document on camera. Others send follow-up questions: how you get customers, what an average order looks like, whether you deliver yourself or through a courier. Answer plainly and specifically. A vague answer usually produces a second round of questions.
You may also be asked for documents later, after you are live. That is normal. Gateways review accounts again when volumes change, when you add international payments, or when they update their own rules. If you plan to sell abroad, our post on taking foreign card payments on an Indian site explains why that usually triggers a fresh look at your account.
A folder to prepare before you apply
Gathering your payment gateway KYC documents once saves time when you apply to a second gateway or switch later. Create one folder, on your computer and in cloud storage, with:
- Clear scans of PAN cards (business and owner, partners or directors) in PDF or image form.
- Identity and address proof for every signatory.
- Registration documents: GST, Udyam, shop licence, incorporation certificate, deed or agreement, as applicable.
- A recent bank statement and a cancelled cheque, both showing the account name clearly.
- A one-paragraph description of your business, what you sell, who buys it and how you deliver.
- Links to your privacy, terms, refund and shipping pages.
- A note of the exact legal name, trade name and registered address, spelt the same way every time.
Write the date beside the bank statement so you know when it goes stale. Keep the password-free copies separate from the originals.
What to ask the gateway before you start
A short email or support chat before you upload anything can prevent a rejection. Useful questions:
- Does my business type and category need any document not listed in the onboarding form?
- Do you accept a savings account for my structure, or only a current account?
- Which payment methods will be enabled at activation, and which need a separate request?
- Are there any holds, reserves or limits on new accounts like mine, and where are they explained?
- Who do I contact if a document is rejected without a clear reason?
Write down the answers with the date and the name of the person who replied. If something changes later, you have a record.
After approval: test before you announce it
Activation means the gateway is ready. It does not mean your website is. Swap the test keys for live keys in your store, make one small real payment yourself, check the order status on the site and in the gateway dashboard, then refund it. Our guide to connecting a gateway to your site covers that setup in more detail.
If a test payment shows as paid in the gateway but not in the store, that is a technical problem rather than a KYC one, and it is worth fixing before customers find it.
Still deciding which gateway to apply to?
Paperwork is similar across the main Indian gateways, but onboarding speed, the questions they ask and how they handle new accounts differ. Our broader look at choosing a payment gateway for small business compares what to weigh before you commit to one. The documents for payment gateway approval rarely change much from one provider to the next, so the folder you prepare now will serve you again.
If you have the documents ready but the website side is what is holding you back, missing policy pages, a theme full of demo content, a checkout that is not connected yet, that is the kind of work our ecommerce website team does. Get the folder sorted first; a clear set of papers and a finished website remove the usual reasons for a hold.
Next in this series: Payment Gateway Settlement Time: When the Money Arrives
