India’s payments network operator, NPCI, plans to extend its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) beyond borders, targeting up to 20 overseas markets in the next decade by integrating with global platforms and leveraging its large diaspora.
India’s payments network operator is looking to turn the country’s large overseas diaspora into a launchpad for international growth, with the aim of making Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, a familiar way to move money across borders.
Dilip Asbe, chief executive of the National Payments Corporation of India, said the ambition is to win as many as 15 to 20 markets over the next decade. Speaking in the lead article, he said the same self-reliance India has built in domestic digital payments should, in time, extend to cross-border transactions as well.
UPI has already been widening its footprint. India Brand Equity Foundation has reported a 20-fold jump in cross-border UPI transactions over the course of a year, with the system now available in seven countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, France and Sri Lanka. The platform is also said to be accepted by more than 1.5 million international merchants, underscoring its growing relevance beyond India’s borders.
At the same time, National Payments Corporation of India has been exploring both bilateral and multilateral routes to internationalise the system, according to Business Standard. That includes possible integration with other major payment platforms, such as Alipay, as part of a wider push to make cross-border transfers smoother and more interoperable.
The expansion effort comes as India’s payments sector deepens its global ambitions more broadly. Reporting from the Economic Times’ GCC platform has noted that payments-focused global capability centres in India are scaling faster than the wider market and are increasingly handling product development for global clients. Separately, NPCI said in a press release that its UPI One World wallet was extended to international delegates at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, allowing visitors from more than 40 countries to make real-time merchant payments in India without an Indian mobile number or bank account. These developments suggest UPI’s overseas strategy is being built not just around Indians abroad, but also around foreign users passing through India and, eventually, a larger network of connected markets.
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