UPI Abroad 2026: Full List of Countries That Accept It

Introduction

India's Unified Payments Interface has quietly become one of the country's most successful pieces of digital infrastructure, and its footprint keeps growing beyond India's borders. The latest addition came on August 30, 2026, when NPCI International Payments (NIPL) signed a commercial agreement with Uzbekistan's national payment operator, paving the way for Indian travelers to pay Uzbek merchants directly through their UPI apps. But with agreements, pilots, and fully operational corridors all being reported somewhat interchangeably in the news, it's worth being precise about where UPI actually works today versus where it's simply been announced. Here's the accurate, current picture.

Table of Contents

1. The New Uzbekistan Agreement
2. The Official List: Where UPI Is Operational Today
3. A Note on Conflicting Country Counts
4. Countries Where Agreements Are Signed but Not Yet Live
5. How UPI International Expansion Actually Works
6. Why India Is Pushing UPI Globally
7. The Numbers Behind UPI's Global Growth
8. What "Operational" Actually Means for Travelers
9. Case Studies: How Different Corridors Have Rolled Out
10. Common Mistakes Travelers Make With UPI Abroad
11. Actionable Tips for Using UPI Internationally
12. FAQs
13. Conclusion
14. Key Takeaways
    

    The New Uzbekistan Agreement

NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of India's National Payments Corporation, signed a commercial agreement with Uzbekistan's National Interbank Processing Centre JSC (NIPC), operator of the country's HUMO payment system, on August 30, 2026. The agreement, announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral visit to Uzbekistan, will allow Indian travelers, business visitors, and students to make instant merchant payments by scanning Uzbekistan's national interoperable QR code, UZQR, using their regular UPI-enabled apps. The deal follows formal approvals from both the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, which designated HUMO as NIPL's authorized partner for cross-border merchant acceptance in the country.

The Official List: Where UPI Is Operational Today

According to India's Ministry of Finance, following the Uzbekistan announcement, UPI is currently accepted in 10 countries:

1. Singapore
2. United Arab Emirates
3. France
4. Mauritius
5. Nepal
6. Bhutan
7. Qatar
8. Sri Lanka
9. Cambodia
10. Greece
    Uzbekistan becomes the newest addition to this expanding network, though the merchant payment corridor there is still rolling out following the August 30 agreement rather than being immediately live everywhere.

A Note on Conflicting Country Counts

It's worth flagging an important accuracy point here: official government communications about UPI's international footprint have not always been perfectly consistent from one announcement to the next. Notably, the Maldives achieved a fully operational UPI payment corridor — called Favara-UPI — in late July 2026, following an agreement between NIPL and the Maldives Monetary Authority signed in July 2025 and an accelerated rollout process. Multiple reports at the time described the corridor as having reached "full operational readiness." Yet the Ministry of Finance's official 10-country list released alongside the Uzbekistan announcement on August 31 does not include the Maldives. This kind of discrepancy is common with fast-expanding, multi-agency international rollouts, and readers should treat any single "final" country count with some caution, cross-referencing the most recent official statements where precision matters.

Countries Where Agreements Are Signed but Not Yet Live

Beyond the officially operational list, India has signed agreements or memoranda of understanding with several additional countries where UPI is not yet usable by travelers:

• Israel — an agreement to connect the two countries' payment systems was signed during PM Modi's visit in February 2026, alongside a broader Critical and Emerging Technologies Partnership. The integration remains in progress rather than being available to travelers as of this writing.
• Indonesia — India and Indonesia agreed in July 2026 to link UPI with Indonesia's QRIS payment system, with both governments targeting full integration by the end of 2026. Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Sandeep Chakravorty has described the technical work as being at an advanced stage.
  Other countries, including Malaysia and Japan, have also been reported as having ongoing partnerships, pilots, or preliminary discussions with India on UPI integration, though none of these have reached operational status for travelers as of this writing.

How UPI International Expansion Actually Works

NIPL typically pursues one of a few different models when expanding UPI internationally: direct QR code interoperability agreements (where Indian UPI apps can scan a country's existing national QR standard, as with the new Uzbekistan deal), fast payment system (FPS) interlinking for peer-to-peer remittances (such as the UPI-PayNow link operationalized with Singapore's Monetary Authority in 2023), and merchant acceptance partnerships with local payment processors or central banks. Each model requires formal regulatory approval from both the Reserve Bank of India and the equivalent counterpart authority in the partner country before any corridor can actually go live for public use.

Why India Is Pushing UPI Globally

India's push to internationalize UPI serves several overlapping goals. For Indian travelers, students, and business visitors, it reduces reliance on cash and international cards, cutting foreign exchange markup costs. For the Indian government more broadly, it's part of a wider strategy to export India's Digital Public Infrastructure model — the "India Stack" approach combining digital identity and payments infrastructure — as a template other countries can adopt or interconnect with. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra's predecessor previously described the ambition explicitly as making UPI and RuPay "truly global," citing interest from a growing list of international jurisdictions. India has also signed broader digital cooperation agreements with 23 countries supporting India Stack adoption, a considerably larger number than the countries where UPI payments are specifically operational today.

The Numbers Behind UPI's Global Growth

Cross-border UPI transaction volume has grown dramatically in a short period. According to Reserve Bank of India data, cross-border UPI transactions grew more than 20-fold to over 755,000 in fiscal year 2025, up from just 37,060 payments in fiscal year 2024. In just the first four months of fiscal year 2026, the platform recorded roughly 601,000 cross-border transactions, suggesting the pace of growth has continued to accelerate. In value terms, cross-border UPI transactions rose from ₹19.7 crore in FY24 to ₹258.53 crore in FY25, with ₹169.29 crore recorded in just the first several months of FY26. More than 1.5 million international merchants have reportedly been onboarded to accept UPI payments as this expansion has continued.

What "Operational" Actually Means for Travelers

For any given country, "UPI is accepted" typically means Indian UPI app users can scan a local merchant's QR code (either the country's national standard or a UPI-specific one) and pay directly from their Indian bank account, without needing a local bank account or a separate international payment card. It's worth noting that real-world usability can vary by region within a country — reporting on Nepal's UPI corridor, for example, has noted that acceptance is heavily concentrated in cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara, with far more limited functionality in smaller towns, alongside transaction limits considerably lower than what's available domestically in India.

Case Studies: How Different Corridors Have Rolled Out

The Maldives' accelerated timeline: The Favara-UPI corridor's rollout, from signed agreement in July 2025 to full operational readiness in an accelerated 10-day technical process in July 2026, illustrates how quickly a corridor can go live once the underlying regulatory and technical groundwork has been completed by both countries' payment authorities.

Indonesia's longer runway: By contrast, the India-Indonesia QRIS-UPI linkage, announced in July 2026 with a target completion by the end of the same year, shows that timelines can vary considerably depending on the complexity of integrating with a partner country's existing national payment infrastructure.

Singapore's remittance-focused model: Singapore's UPI-PayNow linkage, operationalized in 2023, focused specifically on peer-to-peer remittances between the two countries' fast payment systems, a somewhat different integration model than the merchant-QR-scanning approach used in newer agreements like Uzbekistan's.

Common Mistakes Travelers Make With UPI Abroad

• Assuming a country is UPI-ready simply because an agreement has been announced, rather than confirming it has actually reached operational status.
• Expecting the same transaction limits abroad as domestically in India; many international corridors impose lower per-transaction caps.
• Assuming exchange rates applied to international UPI transactions automatically match domestic Indian rates; banks generally set their own conversion rates for these transactions.
• Relying exclusively on UPI in destinations where acceptance is concentrated in major cities, without a backup payment method for smaller towns or rural areas.

• Not checking which specific UPI app (PhonePe, Google Pay, or others) has the most reliable performance in a given country, since real-world reliability can vary by app and by local network conditions.

  Actionable Tips for Using UPI Internationally

• Before traveling, check the most recent official government or NPCI International announcements to confirm a destination country's UPI status is genuinely operational, not just agreed upon.

• Carry a backup payment method (a forex card or limited cash) for regions within a UPI-accepting country where acceptance may still be limited.
• Check your specific bank's foreign exchange markup on international UPI transactions before assuming it's automatically the cheapest option.
• Be aware of per-transaction limits in the destination country, which are often lower than domestic UPI limits in India.
• Keep an eye on evolving corridors like Israel and Indonesia, where agreements are signed but not yet usable, since operational status can change with little advance notice.
  

  FAQs

1. Which countries currently accept UPI as of the Uzbekistan announcement?
According to India's Ministry of Finance, UPI is officially accepted in Singapore, the UAE, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Greece, with Uzbekistan now added as the newest corridor.

2. Is UPI operational in the Maldives?
Reports from July 2026 indicate the Favara-UPI corridor achieved full operational readiness, though it was notably absent from the Ministry of Finance's official 10-country list issued alongside the Uzbekistan announcement, reflecting some inconsistency in official communications.

3. Can I use UPI in Israel yet?
Not for everyday payments as of this writing — India and Israel signed an agreement to connect their payment systems in February 2026, but full integration for traveler use had not been confirmed as operational.

4. Is UPI working in Indonesia?
Not yet — India and Indonesia agreed in July 2026 to link UPI with Indonesia's QRIS system, targeting full integration by the end of 2026.

5. How does the Uzbekistan UPI agreement work?
Indian travelers will be able to scan Uzbekistan's national QR code, UZQR, using their regular UPI apps to pay merchants directly, following the agreement between NIPL and Uzbekistan's HUMO payment system.

6. How much has cross-border UPI usage grown recently?
Cross-border UPI transactions grew more than 20-fold to over 755,000 in fiscal year 2025, up from just 37,060 in fiscal year 2024, according to RBI data.

7. Does UPI work the same abroad as it does in India?
Not exactly — international corridors often have lower transaction limits, geographically concentrated merchant acceptance, and bank-set exchange rates that can differ from domestic conditions.

8. How many countries has India signed digital payment or UPI-related agreements with in total?
India has signed broader digital cooperation agreements supporting its Digital Public Infrastructure model with 23 countries, though the number where UPI payments are actually operational for travelers is considerably smaller.

9. Which countries were the first to accept UPI internationally?
Bhutan was the first country to implement UPI QR-based payments, in July 2021, followed by expansion to Singapore, UAE, Nepal, France, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and others in subsequent years.

10. What's the difference between a "signed agreement" and "operational" UPI acceptance?
A signed agreement establishes the intent and regulatory framework for two countries' payment systems to connect, but "operational" means the technical integration is complete and travelers can actually use UPI to pay merchants in that country.

Conclusion

The new Uzbekistan agreement adds another country to UPI's genuinely impressive and fast-growing international footprint, but the full picture is more nuanced than a single round number suggests. Ten countries have officially confirmed, operational UPI acceptance according to the latest government statement, with the Maldives functioning in practice despite being absent from that specific list, and Israel and Indonesia both signed but still working through technical integration. For travelers, the practical takeaway is to check the most current, specific status of any destination country before relying on UPI as a primary payment method — India's digital payments ambitions are expanding quickly, but "signed" and "usable at the counter" remain two meaningfully different things.

Key Takeaways

• India signed a new UPI agreement with Uzbekistan on August 30, 2026, adding it to the platform's international footprint.
• The Ministry of Finance's official list names 10 operational countries: Singapore, UAE, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Greece.
• The Maldives has a fully operational Favara-UPI corridor as of July 2026, despite being absent from the Finance Ministry's most recent official count.
• Israel (agreement signed February 2026) and Indonesia (agreement signed July 2026, targeting end-of-2026 completion) are not yet operational for travelers.
• Cross-border UPI transaction volume grew more than 20-fold between FY24 and FY25, reflecting rapid real-world adoption alongside the expanding country list.