India and Uzbekistan are on the verge of enabling cross-border payments through UPI and local systems, aiming to boost bilateral trade and modernise financial infrastructure within a year.
India and Uzbekistan are moving towards allowing India’s Unified Payments Interface to work in Central Asia, a step that would let Indian travellers make payments in Uzbekistan through UPI-enabled apps within about a year, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs. The ministry said the planned rollout marks a further push in the overseas expansion of India’s digital payments system and is intended to make cross-border transactions easier between the two countries.
The effort follows a network agreement between NPCI International Payments Limited and Uzbekistan’s HUMO payment system, which officials described as the first stage in building interoperability between the two countries’ payment ecosystems. Reporting from Uzbekistan has also pointed to discussions involving Uzcard, while the Central Bank of Uzbekistan said the talks covered India’s experience in digital payments, cybersecurity requirements and future cooperation on strengthening payment infrastructure.
The move comes as New Delhi and Tashkent are trying to broaden their economic relationship. The two governments have set a goal of lifting bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2030, up from about $1 billion now, according to the ministry. Alongside the digital payments push, India has also announced 100 Lal Bahadur Shastri scholarships for Uzbek students studying Hindi and an ICCR Sanskrit chair at Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, underscoring the wider effort to deepen educational and cultural ties.
For India, the Uzbekistan plan fits a broader strategy of taking UPI beyond its home market and into countries with large numbers of Indian visitors or strong commercial links. For Uzbekistan, the arrangement could bring a widely used retail payments system into merchant checkouts and further modernise its financial rails. The full implementation is expected within a year, if technical integration proceeds as planned.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
