UPI Expands to Uzbekistan as NPCI International Links India’s Payment Network with UZQR

India’s Unified Payments Interface is set to gain another major international market after NPCI International Payments Ltd. signed a commercial agreement with Uzbekistan’s National Interbank Processing Centre to enable UPI payments through the country’s national UZQR network.

The agreement, signed on 30 August 2026, will allow Indian tourists, business travellers and students in Uzbekistan to scan the country’s interoperable UZQR codes using UPI-enabled Indian applications and make merchant payments directly from their Indian bank accounts.

Unlike arrangements where UPI is accepted only at selected merchants or through individual acquiring networks, the Uzbekistan partnership connects UPI with the country’s national interoperable QR infrastructure, potentially giving Indian users access to a very broad merchant network across retail establishments, hotels, restaurants and service providers.

NPCI International Partners with Uzbekistan’s HUMO Operator

The agreement has been concluded between NPCI International Payments Ltd. (NIPL), the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India, and National Interbank Processing Centre JSC (NIPC), which operates Uzbekistan’s national payment system HUMO.

The arrangement received regulatory approvals from both the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. The Uzbek central bank designated HUMO as NIPL’s authorised partner for cross-border merchant acceptance, creating the institutional framework necessary for Indian UPI applications to interact with Uzbekistan’s domestic payment infrastructure.

The announcement was made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Uzbekistan and formed part of a broader package of outcomes aimed at strengthening economic, technological and institutional cooperation between the two countries. The India-Uzbekistan visit outcomes specifically listed the NIPL-NIPC commercial agreement for enabling Indian UPI applications to scan UZQR for merchant payments.

What UZQR Integration Means for Indian Travellers

The most important element of the agreement is interoperability between UPI and UZQR, Uzbekistan’s Unified National QR system.

UZQR has been developed to create a common QR-based payment infrastructure across Uzbekistan. Rather than requiring merchants to maintain multiple QR codes belonging to different banks or payment providers, the system allows customers to scan a single interoperable QR code through participating banking and payment applications. The Central Bank of Uzbekistan formally introduced the unified system as part of its effort to expand cashless payments and simplify merchant acceptance.

Once the UPI connection is available across this infrastructure, an Indian visitor should be able to open a supported UPI application, scan the merchant’s UZQR code and initiate a person-to-merchant payment without needing a local Uzbek bank account or domestic payment application.

That makes the arrangement fundamentally different from carrying foreign currency or depending entirely on an international debit or credit card.

Near-Universal Merchant Acceptance Is the Key Advantage

The government describes the integration as providing near-universal merchant acceptance because UPI is being connected to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan’s mandated national QR architecture rather than to a narrow collection of participating establishments.

The potential reach includes merchants across Uzbekistan’s retail, hospitality and service sectors. For Indian travellers, this could make routine transactions such as paying at restaurants, shops, hotels and other commercial establishments substantially easier.

It also extends the familiar scan-and-pay behaviour used every day in India into another national payment environment.

Uzbekistan’s central bank began implementing the unified QR framework in 2026 as part of a broader effort to consolidate digital payment acceptance. From 1 July 2026, new arrangements governing payments through the unified QR system came into effect for trade and service establishments.

Particularly Useful for Indian Students in Uzbekistan

The UPI arrangement could have considerable practical value because the flow of people between India and Uzbekistan extends beyond conventional tourism.

Uzbekistan has become increasingly important for Indian business delegations, professionals, tourists and students. Indian students pursuing higher education, particularly medical education, form an important component of the bilateral people-to-people relationship.

For students staying in Uzbekistan for extended periods, direct access to merchant payments using Indian bank accounts could reduce the need to manage large amounts of cash or depend exclusively on international cards for everyday purchases.

The arrangement could similarly make short business visits and tourism easier by allowing travellers to continue using an interface already familiar to hundreds of millions of Indian users.

Payments Can Be Made Directly from Indian Bank Accounts

Under the arrangement, eligible payments will be person-to-merchant transactions initiated through UPI and funded from the user’s linked Indian bank account.

This preserves one of UPI’s principal advantages: the user does not have to load money into a separate prepaid wallet merely to make a payment.

The government said the system is intended to reduce dependence on cash and international cards while also reducing friction associated with conventional foreign-exchange payment processes.

The precise exchange rate, conversion arrangements and any charges applicable to individual transactions can depend on the participating applications, banks and cross-border payment framework. The significance of the arrangement is therefore primarily in the creation of payment interoperability rather than an assurance that every transaction will necessarily be free of conversion costs.

Uzbekistan Is Building an Internationally Connected QR Ecosystem

The India agreement also fits into Uzbekistan’s wider effort to connect its national payment infrastructure with international digital-payment platforms.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has been actively exploring interoperability between UZQR and overseas payment ecosystems. In August 2026, it held discussions with Tencent on connecting the unified QR network with international payment platforms so that visitors could pay using applications already familiar to them.

Uzbekistan has also been expanding HUMO’s international QR-payment links. During the Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum held in Tashkent in August 2026, Alipay+ and HUMO launched interoperability allowing Alipay+ users to make QR payments through HUMO infrastructure.

UPI’s entry therefore places India’s payment ecosystem alongside other major international digital-payment networks being integrated with Uzbekistan’s rapidly modernising financial infrastructure.

UPI’s International Footprint Continues to Expand

The Uzbekistan agreement represents another step in India’s effort to take the domestic success of UPI into international markets.

Before the Uzbekistan arrangement, the government listed UPI acceptance in Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Greece.

These international arrangements are not identical. In some markets, UPI is available through selected merchant networks, while other partnerships involve deeper connections between national payment infrastructures.

The Uzbekistan model is particularly significant because the Indian system is being integrated with UZQR at the national infrastructure level, offering the prospect of significantly wider merchant coverage.

From Domestic Payment System to Digital Infrastructure Export

UPI was originally created to solve a domestic payments problem by allowing instant bank-to-bank transactions across different financial institutions through a common interoperable platform.

Its international expansion represents a different stage in its evolution. India is increasingly exporting not merely a payment application but the interoperability model underlying its digital public infrastructure.

NPCI International has been pursuing partnerships with governments, central banks and payment-network operators to establish UPI acceptance overseas and, in some cases, help countries develop payment systems based on India’s technological architecture.

This gives UPI international significance beyond convenience for Indian tourists. Payment connectivity can strengthen trade, tourism, remittances and financial cooperation while reducing dependence on closed-loop international payment networks for certain categories of transactions.

A New Dimension in India-Uzbekistan Digital Cooperation

The agreement also reflects the broader expansion of India-Uzbekistan relations into digital technology and financial infrastructure.

India and Uzbekistan have traditionally cooperated in areas such as pharmaceuticals, education, connectivity, defence and cultural exchanges. Digital public infrastructure is now emerging as another component of the partnership.

Connecting UPI with UZQR creates a practical digital bridge between the two economies. Rather than remaining an abstract technology agreement, the integration will be visible directly to individuals making everyday payments.

For Indian travellers, its value is simple: the same UPI applications used at home can be used to scan Uzbekistan’s national QR codes and pay local merchants directly from an Indian bank account.

For India, however, the strategic significance is wider. The agreement demonstrates how UPI is gradually moving from being primarily India’s domestic instant-payment system towards becoming an interoperable element of the international digital-payments landscape.

The Uzbekistan partnership consequently represents another important milestone in the globalisation of India’s digital public infrastructure and adds Central Asia to the expanding geography of UPI-enabled cross-border merchant payments.

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Source: PIB: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?PRID=2304967&reg=48&lang=1

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