Indian travellers can use UPI-enabled apps to pay at participating merchants in Uzbekistan, as the system adds another market to its overseas network. Acceptance remains limited to supported locations, and services vary by country.
India’s unified payments interface, or UPI, is moving further beyond its domestic base as NPCI International Payments Limited expands the system’s acceptance overseas, giving Indian travellers a way to pay participating merchants abroad through QR codes linked to their bank accounts. According to the National Payments Corporation of India’s overview of UPI Global Acceptance, users who have enabled UPI Global or UPI International can scan a supported merchant’s QR code, review the amount in foreign and Indian currency, check exchange rates and any fees, and approve the payment with their UPI PIN. The emphasis is on select merchant locations, not universal coverage, which means the service is useful but not yet a substitute for cash or cards everywhere.
The latest push came in Uzbekistan, where NPCI International and the National Interbank Processing Centre signed a commercial agreement on 30 August 2026, according to a Government of India release. That arrangement allows Indian travellers to use UPI-enabled apps to scan Uzbekistan’s interoperable UZQR code at merchant outlets across retail, hospitality and services. The government said the service is intended to help tourists, business travellers and students, adding another market to UPI’s growing overseas footprint.
Cambodia was added earlier, in June 2026, through a partnership with ACLEDA Bank, the Press Information Bureau said in its background note on UPI’s international reach. That official update said UPI was active in 11 foreign markets, including Singapore, the UAE, France, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Qatar, while also noting that the form of access varies by country. In some places, UPI is available for merchant QR payments; in others, such as Greece and the Maldives, the link is for cross-border remittances rather than point-of-sale purchases.
That distinction matters for travellers. Industry explanations, including Moneycontrol’s explainer, note that UPI’s presence in a country does not automatically mean every shop will accept it, and that some overseas connections support money transfers rather than merchant spending. For Indian users, the practical steps are straightforward: switch on the international feature in a supported app, look for a participating QR code, scan it, confirm the foreign-currency amount and the rupee equivalent, review any conversion cost, and then authorise the transaction. Google Pay’s help pages say supported accounts can use the feature in the countries it covers, but banks may levy currency-conversion charges.
For India, the wider strategy is to link UPI with local payment networks rather than build a separate system in each market. That approach, officials and payment-sector materials suggest, could reduce friction in cross-border transactions while giving Indian visitors a cheaper and simpler way to pay abroad. It may also help foreign merchants attract Indian customers, while reinforcing India’s digital public infrastructure as a platform that can be adapted across borders.
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