Institutes on the Institute plan or above can collect tuition and course fees
from students directly through the Pathshala portal. Pathshala acts as a
marketplace facilitator — fees flow through our payment processor and are
settled to the institute's bank account after deducting the platform fee.
How it works — step by step
Step 1: One-time setup
India: Institute admin submits business details (legal name, PAN, address) from the dashboard. Pathshala creates a Razorpay Linked Account. Razorpay reviews KYC — typically 1–3 business days.
US / International: Admin clicks "Set up payments" and completes Stripe Express onboarding (identity verification, bank account, terms). Takes about 5 minutes.
Step 2: Configure fees
Go to Dashboard → Finance → Student Fees → Fee structure.
Institute can track all settlements in Dashboard → Finance → Settlements.
Example: Indian coaching institute
Shakti Academy adds a "Monthly Tuition" fee of ₹2,500.
A student pays via UPI on June 1. By June 3, Shakti Academy sees ₹2,400
(after platform + gateway fees) settled in their bank account. The full
transaction detail — amount, method, fee breakdown — is visible in the dashboard.
Marketplace model — payer & payee transparency
Pathshala operates as a regulated marketplace under RBI's Payment Aggregator guidelines (for India) and standard marketplace rules (for Stripe Connect).
The payer is always the student (or parent).
The payee is always the institute.
Pathshala never holds student fees beyond the standard settlement window — funds are automatically transferred to the institute's bank account.
4. Platform fees & charges
Subscription fees
Subscription pricing is published at pathshala.co/pricing. There are no hidden charges — the price shown is what you pay (plus applicable taxes).
Student fee collection charges
When an institute collects fees from students, two charges are deducted from each transaction before settlement:
Charge
Rate
Description
Platform fee
2%
Pathshala's service charge for marketplace operations, dashboards, receipts, and support.
Payment gateway fee
~2%
Charged by the processor (Razorpay or Stripe) for payment processing. Exact rate varies by payment method.
Net to institute
~96%
Settled to the institute's bank account.
Example breakdown — ₹2,500 student payment (India)
Student pays
₹2,500
Platform fee (2%)
−₹50
Razorpay fee (~2%)
−₹50
Institute receives
₹2,400
Example breakdown — $150 student payment (US)
Student pays
$150.00
Platform fee (2%)
−$3.00
Stripe fee (~2%)
−$3.00
Institute receives
$144.00
No setup fee. There is no charge to set up payment collection. No monthly minimum, no lock-in contract on fees. You only pay when students pay.
5. Settlement timeline
After a student completes a payment, funds are settled to the institute's bank account on a standard cycle:
Stage
Timing
What happens
Payment captured
Instant
Student completes checkout. Payment appears in the institute's Transactions tab immediately.
Processing
T+1 day
Payment processor (Razorpay or Stripe) processes the transaction and deducts fees.
Bank settlement
T+2 business days
Net amount is transferred to the institute's registered bank account. Visible in Settlements tab.
Business days only. Settlement days count only Monday–Friday (excluding bank holidays). A payment on Friday settles by Tuesday (T+2 business days).
Razorpay (India): Standard T+2 settlement. Razorpay may hold funds longer for new accounts
during the initial KYC verification period.
Stripe (US/Intl): Standard T+2 settlement for established accounts. New Stripe Express accounts
may have a 7-day rolling settlement for the first few weeks.
6. Accepted payment methods
India (via Razorpay)
UPI — Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM, and all UPI-enabled apps
Credit & debit cards — Visa, Mastercard, RuPay
Net banking — all major Indian banks
Mobile wallets — Paytm, PhonePe, Amazon Pay, and others supported by Razorpay
United States & International (via Stripe)
Credit & debit cards — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover
Google Pay, Apple Pay
ACH direct debit (where available)
Available methods may vary by transaction. The checkout page displays all options for your payment.
7. Payment security & PCI compliance
Both Stripe and Razorpay are PCI-DSS Level 1 certified — the highest level of security in the payments industry.
Pathshala never stores full card numbers, CVVs, UPI PINs, or banking credentials.
All payment data is collected directly by Stripe or Razorpay on their secure, certified pages.
We store only non-sensitive identifiers (last 4 digits of a card, processor customer IDs, invoice records) for billing administration.
All data in transit is encrypted with TLS 1.2+.
All data at rest is encrypted with AES-256.
What Pathshala stores vs. what processors store
Data type
Stored by Pathshala?
Stored by Stripe/Razorpay?
Full card number
No
Yes (tokenized)
CVV / UPI PIN
No
Never stored
Last 4 digits of card
Yes
Yes
Transaction amount & status
Yes
Yes
Customer email & name
Yes
Yes
Bank account details
No
Yes (for settlements)
8. RBI compliance (India)
Payment Aggregator guidelines
Pathshala operates as a marketplace facilitator using Razorpay Route.
Razorpay Software Private Limited is a licensed Payment Aggregator under the Reserve Bank of India.
Pathshala does not independently hold a PA license — student fee payments are processed
entirely through Razorpay's regulated infrastructure.
Razorpay Route
Razorpay Route enables Pathshala to split payments between the platform (for service fees)
and institutes (for tuition). Funds flow from students to institutes via Razorpay Linked Accounts:
Each institute has a Linked Account on Razorpay, created during onboarding.
Razorpay performs KYC verification (PAN, address, bank details) on each linked account.
Payment splits happen automatically at the transaction level — no manual transfers needed.
Recurring payments & e-mandate
For recurring subscription billing in India, RBI requires:
An e-mandate (standing instruction) registered with the bank or UPI app.
A pre-debit notification at least 24 hours before each renewal.
Additional authentication (AFA) for charges exceeding ₹15,000.
Students/institutes can revoke their e-mandate at any time through their bank.
Razorpay Route enabled — linked account creation and student fee collection live
9. Taxes
India: Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the applicable rate (currently 18% for SaaS services) is included in the displayed price or added at checkout as required by law. GST-compliant invoices are generated for every transaction.
United States: Sales tax is collected where required by state or local law and calculated by Stripe Tax based on your billing address.
Other regions: VAT, GST, or other applicable indirect taxes may be added at checkout based on your billing address.
Taxes collected are remitted to the relevant tax authorities by Pathshala and are not refundable.
GST registration status (July 2026): Heer Eduverse Private Limited is currently in the pre-revenue phase and not yet GST-registered. GST registration will be completed once domestic turnover reaches the ₹20-lakh threshold as per GST Act provisions. GST will be charged on invoices from the date of registration.
10. Refunds & cancellation
Subscription refunds
Refund requests must be submitted within 24 hours of the original charge.
To request a refund, email finance@pathshala.co with your institute name and the charge in question.
Approved refunds are processed within 5–7 business days.
Partial months are not pro-rated — cancellation stops future charges but does not refund unused time.