How Indian travellers can use UPI abroad:Scan, pay and go — but there’s a catch; here’s what to check before your tour

For Indian travellers, paying at a shop abroad could be almost as simple as making a UPI payment at a local store in India. In a foreign country where UPI transaction services are enabled, travellers can open a supported UPI app on their mobile phone and scan the shopkeeper’s QR code. The app displays the transaction amount in the local foreign currency along with its converted value in Indian rupees. Once the traveller enters the UPI PIN, the linked Indian bank account is debited in rupees. The payment network handles the currency conversion and settles the payment to the foreign shopkeeper in their local currency. How do UPI international payments work? NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), the dedicated international subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), enables Indian travellers to make cross-border UPI payments in select countries. While domestic UPI transactions are free, international transactions involve foreign exchange charges, daily limits and specific activation steps. Where can Indian travellers use UPI? NIPL, the international arm of NPCI, manages the expansion of UPI in overseas markets. Currently, travellers can use UPI at partner merchant locations in countries including Bhutan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, France and Qatar. In countries such as Singapore and Nepal, bilateral linkages also support instant account-to-account money transfers. What are the charges on foreign UPI payments? In India, domestic UPI transactions between bank accounts remain free for everyday consumers. However, international UPI transactions carry additional costs levied by issuing banks. While the UPI system itself does not levy a platform fee, your Indian bank applies a foreign exchange markup fee. This markup typically ranges from 1.5% to 3.5% of the transaction value, depending on the bank. Applicable taxes and small bank processing charges may also apply to the converted amount. So, while the payment process may look similar to a regular UPI transaction in India, travellers should keep the additional foreign exchange and processing charges in mind when making payments abroad. How does the payment work? The process is straightforward. You open a supported UPI application, scan the merchant’s QR code and check the transaction amount. The app shows the amount in the local foreign currency as well as its equivalent in Indian rupees. After entering the UPI PIN, the amount is debited from the linked Indian bank account in rupees. The payment network takes care of the currency conversion and settles the payment with the foreign merchant in the local currency. For Indian travellers, this allows them to use a familiar UPI payment method abroad, wherever international UPI payments are supported. Which apps support UPI International? Travellers need a UPI app that supports cross-border payments. Apps including BHIM, PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm support UPI International payments. Before making a payment overseas, users must manually activate the UPI International feature in their chosen app. They can select the linked Indian bank account under payment settings and activate international payments using their UPI PIN. Depending on the bank, the activation remains valid for a fixed period, usually up to 90 days. UPI abroad is not available everywhere Travellers should check the operational details before relying entirely on UPI overseas. Payments work only at merchant outlets displaying NIPL-partnered or UPI-compatible QR codes. If a merchant uses an unsupported local payment network, the transaction will not go through. “Just because the government has launched it in a specific country doesn’t mean that it is available in every shop in that country,” said Ashwin Bhatnagar, co-founder of Xflow. This fintech company builds cross-border payment infrastructure for Indian businesses. “It would only be available at certain places,” he said, adding that the use of UPI abroad is currently limited. NPCI sets a standard daily transaction cap of ₹1 lakh for UPI, although individual banks may impose lower limits. Failed payments and refunds can take longer International UPI payments can also take longer to refund. If a transaction fails or a merchant cancels a sale after the money has been debited, the refund is processed through international banking channels between the foreign acquiring bank and the Indian issuing bank. The settlement process can take several working days before the money is credited back to the traveller’s Indian bank account. UPI looks beyond current markets NPCI International continues to work with central banks and financial regulators across Asia, Europe and the Middle East to expand UPI acceptance. Future rollouts and pilot programmes are planned for additional tourist destinations, potentially widening access to digital payments for Indian travellers abroad.