Payment Gateway India-Exploring the Indian Payment Ecosystem: Diagrammatic Representation of How Payment Gateway Works
Creating a diagram in text form to represent how a payment gateway works within the Indian payment ecosystem can be visualized as a series of steps involving various entities. Here’s a conceptual representation of the typical flow:
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[Customer] –(1)–> [Merchant Website]
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| (Customer chooses product/service and proceeds to checkout)
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[Merchant Website] –(2)–> [Payment Gateway]
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| (Payment Gateway collects payment information)
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[Payment Gateway] –(3)–> [Acquiring Bank]
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| (Payment Gateway forwards transaction details to the bank)
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[Acquiring Bank] –(4)–> [Card Network (e.g., Visa/MasterCard)]
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| (Card Network routes the transaction to the Issuing Bank)
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[Issuing Bank] –(5)–> [Authorization Response]
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| (Issuing Bank approves or declines the transaction)
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[Card Network] –(6)–> [Acquiring Bank]
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| (Transaction result is sent back to the Acquiring Bank)
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[Acquiring Bank] –(7)–> [Payment Gateway]
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| (Payment Gateway receives the result and updates the Merchant Website)
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[Payment Gateway] –(8)–> [Merchant Website]
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| (Merchant Website informs the Customer of the transaction status)
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[Merchant Website] –(9)–> [Customer]
“`
Here’s a breakdown of the steps in the diagram:
1. **Customer to Merchant Website**: The customer selects products or services on a merchant’s website and proceeds to the checkout page to make a payment.
2. **Merchant Website to Payment Gateway**: The customer’s payment information (like credit card details) is securely sent from the merchant’s website to the payment gateway.
3. **Payment Gateway to Acquiring Bank**: The payment gateway encrypts and forwards the transaction information to the acquiring bank, which is the bank that has a relationship with the merchant.
4. **Acquiring Bank to Card Network**: The acquiring bank sends the transaction to the card network (e.g., Visa, MasterCard) for authorization.
5. **Card Network to Issuing Bank**: The card network routes the transaction to the issuing bank, which is the bank that issued the customer’s credit or debit card.
6. **Issuing Bank to Authorization Response**: The issuing bank checks for sufficient funds or credit limit and fraud potential, then sends an authorization response back to the card network, indicating whether the transaction is approved or declined.
7. **Card Network to Acquiring Bank**: The card network relays the authorization response back to the acquiring bank.
8. **Acquiring Bank to Payment Gateway**: The acquiring bank sends the transaction result to the payment gateway.
9. **Payment Gateway to Merchant Website**: The payment gateway updates the merchant’s website with the transaction status (approved or declined).
10. **Merchant Website to Customer**: Finally, the merchant’s website informs the customer of the transaction’s outcome, completing the payment process.
Please note that this is a simplified representation. In reality, the process may involve additional steps or entities, such as risk management systems, 3D Secure authentication, and other security measures. Moreover, the actual implementation may vary between different payment gateways and banks.