India's UPI Expands to Eight Countries
India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is now operational in eight countries, including France, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the UAE. Japan and Malaysia are expected to be the next countries to adopt the system, expanding the potential for cross-border payments for Indian commerce platforms.
- The international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), called NIPL, is responsible for the global expansion of UPI. - International UPI transaction volumes nearly doubled in the 2026 fiscal year, crossing one million for the first time with a value of ₹330.43 crore as of December 2025. - The expansion operates through partnerships with local payment systems, such as the linkage with Singapore's PayNow, which allows for seamless fund transfers between the two countries. - In France, the rollout began with a partnership with French e-commerce and proximity payments firm Lyra, enabling UPI acceptance starting with the Eiffel Tower. - For the planned expansion into Japan, NPCI has partnered with Japanese firm NTT Data for a trial rollout set to begin in the 2026 fiscal year, initially targeting Indian tourists. - A parallel initiative, "UPI One World," allows inbound foreign travelers and NRIs to make payments in India using a prepaid UPI-linked wallet without needing a local bank account. - To facilitate this growth, NIPL has onboarded over two million international merchants to accept UPI payments. - Globally, UPI accounts for approximately 49% of all real-time payment transactions by volume, making it the world's largest real-time payment system according to a report by ACI Worldwide.
