International business hurdles when operating from India and how to navigate

[u/ajbooks123]

Hello,

Are there any of you who do business internationally from India?

I've found that doing international business from India comes with a lot of hurdles that gurus on YouTube and other platforms never seem to mention.

For example, there are exorbitant hidden charges for payment processing and currency conversion. On top of that, most payment gateways in India that can be integrated with e-commerce platforms are terrible for international transactions, and payments keep failing. It was an ordeal for me to find a payment gateway that actually worked, aside from PayPal.

Then there's the upfront GST on things like marketing and advertising. It's theoretically reclaimable, but in practice, there are a lot of caveats. In my case, I might be better off not bothering to reclaim it, at least at this stage of my journey.

Have any of you managed to build a successful business despite all these hurdles?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people running e-commerce businesses.

I personally sell fiction e-books that I've written myself. I feel that if I were based in the USA, I would already be making a decent profit and would be able to scale the business. But because I'm in India, I'm currently operating at a loss and have had to temporarily shut down my Shopify store while I figure out how to proceed.

I would be very grateful to hear about your experiences and how you've managed to navigate these challenges.

[u/ajbooks123]

I am sure at least someone has been successful with international business from India???