Open a US Bank Account from India - 2026 Guide

A US bank account is required to receive Amazon US payouts cleanly. Traditional US banks (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo) won't open accounts for foreign-owned LLCs without a physical visit. Three "neo-banks" - Mercury, Relay, and Wise Business - open accounts fully remotely. Here is the full process.

Why you need a US bank account

Amazon US deposits seller payouts to a US bank account. You can technically use Payoneer or Wise as a workaround, but for sustained operations a real US bank account in your LLC's name is cleaner - for tax reporting, vendor payments, and payroll if you scale.

You also need a US bank account to:

• Pay USPTO trademark fees
• Pay state annual report fees
• Pay your US CPA for Form 5472 + 1120
• Receive customer refunds and chargebacks (Amazon handles these but a bank account is required)
• Pay US-based contractors (designers, photographers, agencies)

Mercury - recommended

Mercury (mercury.com) is our default recommendation for Indian-founder LLCs. Roughly 28 of the 50+ Indian-founder LLCs we've helped use Mercury.

What you need to apply:

• Your LLC's Certificate of Formation (from your state)
• Your EIN confirmation letter (the IRS letter showing your 9-digit EIN)
• Your Operating Agreement
• Your Indian passport (color scan, both pages)
• Proof of Indian address (utility bill, bank statement, government ID - must show address)
• A US phone number (Google Voice works - free)
• A US business address (your LLC's registered address is fine)

Application timeline:

• Day 0: Submit application online (~20 minutes to complete)
• Day 1-3: Mercury's compliance team reviews documents
• Day 3-5: Identity verification call (sometimes skipped for clean applications)
• Day 5-7: Account approved, debit card mailed to your US address

Cost: $0 monthly fee. $0 minimum balance. Free domestic and international wire transfers (incoming and outgoing). Free debit card.

Limitations: No cash deposits (online-only bank). No physical branches. Some Amazon sellers report Mercury accounts getting flagged if patterns look "unusual" - usually resolved with a quick chat.

Relay Financial - alternative

Relay (relayfi.com) is the closest competitor to Mercury, with a similar onboarding flow. Used by ~12 of our clients.

Differences vs Mercury:

• Allows multiple sub-accounts (useful if you run multiple Amazon brands under one LLC)
• Includes basic AP/AR features built-in
• Slightly slower customer support response (24-48 hours vs Mercury's 12-24)
• Free domestic wires; $5 fee per international wire

When to choose Relay over Mercury: if you plan to run 3+ separate brand businesses under one LLC and want clean sub-account separation. Otherwise Mercury is simpler.

Wise Business - multi-currency

Wise Business (wise.com/us/business) is best when you need to hold and convert multiple currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, INR). Useful for sellers who expand to Amazon UK / EU.

Strengths: excellent currency conversion rates (mid-market FX), genuinely global. Multi-currency account with US routing, UK sort code, EU IBAN, and 10+ other currency receiving accounts.

Weakness for Amazon-only sellers: Wise USD account is technically a "money services" account, not a bank account. Amazon US accepts it, but some downstream services (US payroll, certain merchant tools) don't recognize it as a bank account.

We recommend Wise as a secondary account alongside Mercury, not as a primary.

Traditional banks (Chase, BoA, Wells Fargo)

Yes, you can open a Chase or Bank of America business account for your LLC - but it requires you to visit a branch in person in the US. The branch manager will require:

• Your Indian passport with valid US visa
• EIN confirmation letter
• Operating Agreement
• Certificate of Formation
• Initial deposit (usually $500-2,000)

This is worth doing only after your business has scaled - typically when monthly Amazon payouts exceed $10,000 and you want institutional banking, lines of credit, or higher transaction limits.

Until then, Mercury or Relay handles everything you need.

Common rejection reasons

The 4 most common reasons Mercury / Relay reject applications from Indian founders:

1. EIN letter not yet received. You must wait for the physical IRS letter (CP 575). Don't apply with just the SS-4 fax confirmation.
2. Address mismatch. Your Indian address proof must show the same address you list in the application. A bill in your father's name to the same address won't work.
3. Vague business description. "Amazon seller" is too generic. Use: "Wholesale and direct-to-consumer sale of home textiles via Amazon FBA, sourced from Karur, India."
4. OFAC sanctioned regions. If your IP address shows you applying from certain regions, the application gets flagged. Use a clean home/office internet connection for the application.

FEMA: moving money back to India

Once Amazon US payouts accumulate in your Mercury account, you'll eventually want to transfer some back to India. The cleanest pathway under FEMA:

• Wire transfer: Mercury → your Indian savings or NRE/NRO account. Wire reference should be "professional services" or "trade settlement"
• Documentation needed: wire receipt from Mercury, FIRC (Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate) issued by your Indian bank, and a brief note explaining the source
• RBI compliance: the inward remittance is logged with RBI by your Indian bank as part of standard FEMA reporting
• Tax treatment: the funds are taxable in India as foreign business income. Your CA in India should handle this annually

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra are the three Indian banks with the most experienced foreign-remittance desks. We recommend keeping your Indian bank account at one of these for smooth Mercury-to-India transfers.