How to pay for Anthropic Claude API as an Indian business in 2026

Short answer: Anthropic bills API usage in US dollars, so an Indian card pays a forex markup plus 18% GST on that markup on every top-up. On a standard 3.5% card that is about 4.13% of your spend. A zero or low-markup card cuts most of it. If your business is GST-registered, you account for GST on the service under reverse charge and can usually claim it back. Whether TDS applies is a judgement call to settle with your CA.

Step 1: pick the card

What the markup costs on $600 a month of API spend, at ₹85 to the dollar (₹6,12,000 a year):

Zero and low-markup cards in our catalog, generated from the catalog with the verification status shown:

Two things to check before you switch:

• Rewards on foreign spend. Some issuers pay fewer points on international transactions, or none. A card with a small markup and good foreign-spend rewards can come out ahead.
• Card acceptance on the console. International transactions must be enabled on the card, and some banks block recurring or auto-reload charges by default. Turn on international online use in your bank's app first.

Our forex markup guide shows the full calculation.

Step 2: GST

For a GST-registered business, a paid API bought from a provider outside India is an import of services. GST at 18% is paid by you under the reverse charge mechanism in your monthly return, and you can normally claim it back as input tax credit if you use the service to make taxable supplies. The net GST cost is then nil, but the entries have to be made.

If you are not registered, check your invoice: a foreign provider of online services to unregistered customers in India is expected to charge GST itself.

Separately, the 18% GST your bank charges on the forex markup is a bank fee, shown on your card statement.

Step 3: TDS, the part to settle with your CA

Indian law requires tax to be withheld on some payments to non-residents. Whether a payment for an API or cloud service counts as royalty or fees for technical services, and so attracts withholding, is debated. Since the Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in the Engineering Analysis case that payments for standard software licences are not royalty, many advisers take the view that standard subscriptions are not taxable in India, but views on API and cloud services differ.

If your CA does treat the payment as royalty or technical fees, the India-US tax treaty rate is 15%, which needs the provider's tax residency certificate, and the domestic rate without treaty relief is higher. Agree a position with your CA, document it, and apply it consistently.

This is general information, not tax advice.

Step 4: keep it tidy

• Use one card for all API top-ups so the forex cost is easy to see.
• Download every invoice from the console for your books.
• Set a spend alert or a budget limit on the console so an auto-reload does not surprise you.
• Review the card choice once a year as your spend grows.

Questions to ask your CA

1. Are we recording the API spend as an import of services under reverse charge, and claiming the credit?
2. What is our position on TDS for this payment, and is it documented?
3. Does anything change if we pay from a foreign entity instead?

Related reading

• Forex on AI and software subscriptions
• Best credit cards for international transactions
• Forex calculator