Indian SMB Exporters Build a Diversified, Multi-Market Playbook for Global Growth: Payoneer's Gaurav Shisodia

As global trade dynamics shift and India, which counts the US as its largest online export destination, faces saturation and tariff pressures, Indian SMBs are recalibrating their cross-border strategies. Yet, despite the noise around tariffs, export volumes haven’t dipped. Instead, sellers are becoming more deliberate, more diversified, and more digitally sophisticated.

To understand the evolving landscape, Mint spoke to Gaurav Shisodia, VP & Country Manager, Payoneer India. Payoneer, a global fintech operating and regulated in key markets around the world, has been enabling Indian SMBs since 2016 with seamless cross-border payment solutions, compliance simplification, and seller growth programmes.

In this conversation, Shisodia breaks down the new export corridors, the rise of global direct-to-consumer (D2C) ambitions, the fastest-growing product categories, and what Indian SMBs need to look “local” when they sell abroad.

Q: India’s online export ecosystem still leans heavily on the US market—but tariffs and saturation are changing the equation. What shifts are you seeing?

A: For years, the US has been the natural home market for Indian sellers. It’s the world’s largest consumer market with mature shipping lanes and a strong demand for Indian products. But tariffs have been a reality check. Initially, sellers believed these would be temporary. Today, they know this is structural, so they’re adapting.

We’re seeing a 180-degree shift in mindset across SMBs. They are doing three things:

1. Building operational efficiencies—renegotiating with suppliers, optimising sourcing and cutting overheads.
2. Absorbing part of the margin hit, some of which has likely been mitigated by the new efficiencies they’re building in, instead of passing total costs off to US consumers.
3. Diversifying into new regions and marketplaces.

Q: Beyond the US, which geographies are Indian SMBs now betting on?

A: We are seeing a few strong emerging corridors:

• UK – The India–UK FTA has structurally improved cost competitiveness by lowering duties.
• Germany – Germany has a mature, high-value consumer market with a strong appetite for differentiated products.
• UAE – Smaller in size but very attractive because of the Indian diaspora and logistics ease.

The shift is not about abandoning the US, but about de-risking and diversifying portfolios.

We’re also seeing a second kind of de-risking: platform diversification. Sellers who were, for example, 100% on Amazon are now opening on Walmart, Etsy, and eBay so they can buffer dips in any single marketplace.

Q: Can you share how Payoneer is enabling this geographical diversification?

A: When an Indian SMB wants to start selling abroad, the biggest hurdle is: “How do I get paid in that country?”

Opening a foreign bank account is complex and slow—it can take 2–3 months and requires physical presence.

Payoneer solves this with virtual collection accounts in multiple major currencies (USD, GBP, EUR, SGD, AED, etc.). Sellers can now receive local-currency payments without opening a foreign bank account. The funds land in India within 24 hours, with full transparency and predictable pricing.

Q: What’s the ground reality for SMBs? What challenges do they bring to you directly?

A: On the ground, SMBs usually come to us with four core challenges. The first is getting paid. Most people don’t know how to receive funds from overseas without opening a foreign bank account, which is why virtual collection accounts have become a game-changer. The second is compliance, because processes like Electronic Bank Realisation Certificates (EBRC), the Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS), and Foreign Inward Remittance Certificates (FIRC) are still manual and slow; we’ve simplified this by digitising FIRC generation so it arrives the next day.

The third challenge is market clarity: sellers are unsure which geography or marketplace to expand into, so we step in with category insights and help them onboard to the right global platforms. And finally, there’s the D2C payments hurdle - Indian payment gateways have low cross-border transaction success rates, leading to high ad spends, abandoned carts, and poor ROI. Payoneer Checkout helps solve this with success rates of up to 99%, making global D2C far more viable for Indian brands.

One unresolved gap in the ecosystem is lending. Banks still don’t know how to underwrite cross-border SMBs because the business model is new. While that remains a market-wide challenge, Payoneer is strategically collaborating with a third-party lender to expand access to capital for our e-commerce customers incorporated in Hong Kong.

Q: You mentioned Tier 2 and Tier 3 growth. What is driving this surge in smaller-city exporters?

A: Digitization and post-COVID migration back home.

Many professionals returned to their hometowns during COVID and built IT or e-commerce businesses from Tier 2/3 cities. Today, these cities are our fastest-growing geographies.

On the services side, India remains a powerhouse for:

• Mobile app development
• Salesforce and enterprise app development
• Game development
• Accounting services

These categories are performing strongly across all major geographies the US, UK, Germany, UAE.

Q: The rise of Indian D2C brands going global has been dramatic. What’s driving this?

A: A few years ago, the typical path was:

1. Start domestic.
2. Experiment on a global marketplace.
3. Stay primarily marketplace-only.

Now the model is evolving:

• Sellers test their best SKUs on marketplaces to validate demand.
• Once they have traction, they launch their own webstores on platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce for better margins and brand loyalty.
• They use their strong understanding of digital ads—Google, Meta, Instagram—to scale.

This is why cross-border D2C is exploding.

Also, consumers globally want authentic, sustainable, ingredient-first brands, and India is uniquely positioned with Ayurveda, clean beauty, artisanal goods, and sustainable home products.

Q: Which categories are currently growing the fastest?

A: In the last 12–18 months, the fastest-growing categories have been beauty, toys, health and wellness, and ayurveda and nutraceuticals. Meanwhile, traditional categories such as home décor, handicrafts, textiles, and furniture continue to perform strongly. Notably, ayurveda experienced exceptional growth before recent tariff changes and remains a resilient segment even after the revisions.

Q: One of the biggest challenges for exporters is “looking local” to foreign consumers. How does Payoneer help sellers build that trust?

A: Trust has two pillars:

1. Local currency experience:
   If a buyer sees a GBP price, they want to pay GBP—not worry about FX or currency mismatch.
   Payoneer enables this by providing local currency collection accounts, making the seller look—and operate—like a local merchant.
2. Market knowledge: We also invest heavily in helping sellers understand how global markets work. Through Payoneer VIP Connect, our invite-only community for high-potential customers and our flagship Payoneer Elevate events, alongside white papers and in-person forums, Indian businesses learn directly from marketplaces, partners, and fellow sellers about what it takes to succeed in each corridor.

We also take Indian sellers abroad to meet partners and customers on the ground, so they can see expectations firsthand and build long-term relationships in their target markets.

We also take Indian sellers abroad to meet partners and customers, so they understand expectations firsthand.

Q: If you imagine the future—2030—what does the cross-border map look like?

A: My wish list is very simple:

• Instant global payments.
• Transparent, competitive pricing.
• Fully seamless compliance.

Imagine this:
A transaction is received → shipping bill matches automatically → EBRC is generated auto-magically → no manual intervention.

That’s where the real acceleration will come from.

Q: Finally, what’s changing the most about India’s position in the global SME economy?

A: India is no longer just a cost arbitrage exporter. We are becoming a product and brand exporter.

• Tier 2/3 cities are powering digital-first SMBs.
• D2C brands are scaling internationally.
• IT services are moving from process to productisation.
• Government reforms like increased courier limits and export hubs will further accelerate momentum.

The next five years will be defined by speed, compliance automation, and multi-market diversification.

Conclusion

Indian SMBs are entering a new phase of global maturity—testing, scaling, diversifying, and leveraging both marketplaces and D2C channels. Payoneersits at the center of this transformation, solving the infrastructure, compliance, and payment friction that has historically slowed India’s export ambitions.

As new FTAs, export hubs, and digitization accelerate, the Indian cross-border story is poised for its next leap - one beyond the US, into a multi-market future.

Note to the Reader: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Mint.