By 2025, UPI may be available for use in six additional countries worldwide
By 2025, UPI may be available for use in six additional countries worldwide
NPCI International Payments (NIPL), the organization tasked with the global deployment of NPCI’s indigenous payment solutions, is actively working to extend the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to an additional four to six countries by 2025, increasing its presence from the current seven nations, as stated by a senior official.
“While NPCI in India works at a breakneck speed, we have partners outside India who have their own way of completing projects. We are hopeful of going live in 3–4 more countries (next year), and if projects are completed on time, six countries is what we are looking at,” says NPCI CEO, Ritesh Shukla.
Currently, UPI payments are recognized in seven nations, which include Bhutan, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and France. A total of twenty applications, featuring third-party providers like BHIM, PhonePe, Paytm, and Google Pay, facilitate these international transactions.
NIPL, a fully-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is preparing to launch UPI services in regions significant to Indian travelers, including Qatar, Thailand, and the wider Southeast Asian area.
In addition to expanding UPI services to other nations, the international payments organization has collaborated with countries like Peru, Namibia, and Trinidad and Tobago to create payment systems akin to India’s real-time payment framework.
“We are now looking at building traction in the markets where we have gone live. This means creating awareness on both sides—merchants and peers. We are working with banks in India to educate customers on using UPI internationally, working with fintechs to create notifications as users land in foreign markets, and we are live in six airports at international terminals. On an infrastructure level, we are helping other countries become sovereign in domestic payment needs. Once these systems are ready, we will look to connect them with India to serve cross-border flows on a bilateral basis,” adds the CEO.
NIPL is focusing on international applications, particularly in the areas of peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions, which resemble the UPI system in India. In terms of P2P transactions, NIPL is implementing a dual approach that encompasses both bilateral and multilateral initiatives.
NIPL has successfully linked UPI in India with PayNow in Singapore as part of its bilateral initiatives. Additionally, the company is engaged in ongoing discussions with Aani, the UAE’s rapid payment system that parallels UPI.
The multilateral component encompasses initiatives like Project Nexus, which is associated with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
The BIS Innovation Hub is collaborating with the central banks of India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to advance this project, aimed at linking the instant payment systems (IPS) of various nations.
