UPI is currently available in the following countries:
Bhutan
Singapore
UAE
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Malaysia
France
BENELUX markets (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg)
Switzerland
India has also signed MoUs with a number of other countries, including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Qatar, USA, and UK, to explore the possibility of introducing UPI in these countries.
UPI is a popular payment method in India, and it is expected to become more popular in other countries as well.
UPI offers a number of advantages over traditional payment methods, such as its speed, convenience, and security.
Bhutan was the first country to adopt UPI, while Nepal deployed India's UPI payment system in collaboration with NPCI International Payments, Gateway Payments Service, and Manam Infotech.
Oman formally joined the other countries in adopting UPI, while the UAE implemented BHIM UPI at NEOPAY terminals.
In France, NPCI International Payments signed an MoU with payments solution provider Lyra Network.
In August 2022, it was announced that UPI will foray into the United Kingdom market starting with QR code-based transactions.
The NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) has already forged a partnership with payments solutions provider PayXpert (a pioneer in the payment industry since 2009) to internationalize the acceptance of its payment solutions in the U.K.
As per NPCI,s press release, this collaboration will make the Indian payment solutions available in the UK on all PayXpert’s android point-of-sale (POS) devices for in-store payments, starting with UPI-based QR code payments and later integrating the possibility for RuPay card payments.
India In Talks With 30 Nations For UPI:
The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnav, said that India is in talks with 30 countries regarding UPI, and three countries have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)[1] .
Worldline, a global leader in payments services, joined forces with NPCI International Payments Ltd. (NIPL), the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to expand the acceptance of Indian payment means across Europe[1] .
As part of the partnership inked in October 2022, Worldline will bring more convenience for Indian customers in the European markets by allowing merchants’ point-of-sale (POS) systems to accept payments from UPI, an instant real-time payment system, as well as RuPay, NPCI’s proprietary card payment network solution[1] .
This will result in a multitude of customer-related merchant benefits due to an increase in footfall and spending from Indian tourists, as per the press release[1] .
Facilitated via Worldline QR, the company’s universal product for the acceptance of all QR-based payments, the first target markets for NIPL are set to include BENELUX and Switzerland with further plans for expansion, as Worldline QR is rolled out in more European countries[1] .
It also mentioned that India is one of the most important tourist markets for Europe with an estimated 10 million Indians travelling to the region each year prior to the pandemic, according to Schengen Visa. Now, as the impacts of COVID-19 begin to subside, that number is expected to significantly increase[1] .
References: [1] List Of Countries Adopting UPI For Payments