diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7d2b7f71..e11b65ad 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/), and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## Unreleased
+fix: `Client._get_version()` raised `UnboundLocalError` instead of falling back when the package metadata was missing, which broke every request from an uninstalled source checkout
 
 ## [2.0.1][2.0.1] - 2026-03-09
 feat: Added Support for cancel token
diff --git a/razorpay/client.py b/razorpay/client.py
index 6d80e526..2071686d 100644
--- a/razorpay/client.py
+++ b/razorpay/client.py
@@ -97,33 +97,32 @@ def _update_user_agent_header(self, options):
         return options
 
     def _get_version(self):
-        version = ""
-        try: # nosemgrep : gitlab.bandit.B110
-            # Try importlib.metadata first (modern approach)
-            try:
-                import importlib.metadata
-                from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError
-                version = importlib.metadata.version("razorpay")
-            except ImportError:
-                # Fall back to pkg_resources
+        """
+        Version of the installed razorpay package, used in the User-Agent.
+        Falls back to a fixed value, with a warning, when the package
+        metadata cannot be found (for example when running from a source
+        checkout that was never installed).
+        """
+        try:
+            from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError
+            from importlib.metadata import version as package_version
+        except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover - Python < 3.8
+            from pkg_resources import DistributionNotFound as PackageNotFoundError
+
+            def package_version(name):
                 import pkg_resources
-                from pkg_resources import DistributionNotFound
-                version = pkg_resources.require("razorpay")[0].version
-        except (PackageNotFoundError, DistributionNotFound, NameError):  # pragma: no cover
-            # PackageNotFoundError: importlib.metadata couldn't find the package
-            # DistributionNotFound: pkg_resources couldn't find the package  
-            # NameError: in case the exception classes aren't defined due to import issues
-            
-            # If all else fails, use the hardcoded version from the package
-            version = "1.4.3"
+                return pkg_resources.require(name)[0].version
 
+        try:
+            return package_version("razorpay")
+        except PackageNotFoundError:
             warnings.warn(
-              "Could not detect razorpay package version. Using fallback version."
-              "This may indicate an installation issue.",
-              UserWarning,
-              stacklevel=4
+                "Could not detect razorpay package version. Using fallback version. "
+                "This may indicate an installation issue.",
+                UserWarning,
+                stacklevel=4
             )
-        return version
+            return "1.4.3"
 
     def _get_app_details_ua(self):
         app_details_ua = ""
diff --git a/tests/test_client_version.py b/tests/test_client_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..040ac51e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_client_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import importlib.metadata
+import unittest
+import warnings
+from unittest import mock
+
+import razorpay
+
+
+class TestClientVersion(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.client = razorpay.Client(auth=('key_id', 'key_secret'))
+
+    def test_version_comes_from_package_metadata(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.client._get_version(),
+                         importlib.metadata.version('razorpay'))
+
+    def test_missing_metadata_falls_back_with_a_warning(self):
+        def missing(name):
+            raise importlib.metadata.PackageNotFoundError(name)
+
+        with mock.patch('importlib.metadata.version', missing):
+            with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as caught:
+                warnings.simplefilter('always')
+                version = self.client._get_version()
+
+        self.assertTrue(version)
+        self.assertTrue(any(issubclass(w.category, UserWarning) for w in caught),
+                        'a UserWarning should explain the fallback')
+
+    def test_requests_still_work_without_package_metadata(self):
+        def missing(name):
+            raise importlib.metadata.PackageNotFoundError(name)
+
+        with mock.patch('importlib.metadata.version', missing):
+            with warnings.catch_warnings():
+                warnings.simplefilter('ignore')
+                options = self.client._update_user_agent_header({})
+
+        self.assertIn('Razorpay-Python/', options['headers']['User-Agent'])