Key Highlights

• NPCI International (NIPL) and Uzbekistan's HUMO have signed a commercial agreement to enable UPI-based merchant payments in Uzbekistan.
• Indian travellers will be able to scan Uzbekistan's national interoperable QR code (UZQR) via UPI-enabled apps.
• MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George has said the full rollout is expected within a year.
• The agreement follows formal approvals from RBI and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.
• The move was announced during PM Modi's August 29-30 state visit to Uzbekistan, alongside 11 other agreements.

India's UPI story just gained one of its most strategically meaningful international chapters. In a significant development for cross-border digital payments, the NPCI International (NIPL), the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has entered into a commercial agreement with the National Interbank Processing Centre JSC (NIPC) — operator of Uzbekistan's national payment system HUMO — paving the way for UPI-based merchant payments in the Central Asian nation.

The announcement was made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Uzbekistan on August 29-30, 2026, and marks another important step in expanding UPI's international footprint.

The Core of the Agreement

According to a Finance Ministry statement issued on Monday, the agreement — signed on August 30 — will enable Indian tourists, business travellers and students to use UPI for instant cross-border merchant payments by scanning Uzbekistan's national interoperable QR code, UZQR.

The partnership enables Indian travellers to scan UZQR using their familiar UPI-enabled applications to make instant merchant payments across Uzbekistan. That's a meaningful convenience upgrade — one that eliminates the traditional friction of currency exchange, card fees and unfamiliar payment systems for Indian travellers.

Regulatory Green Light Already in Place

The execution of the agreement follows formal approvals from financial regulators — including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU) — which designated HUMO as the NIPL's authorised partner for cross-border merchant acceptance.

By integrating with the CBU's mandated Unified National QR infrastructure, UPI users will be able to access near-universal acceptance across retail, hospitality and service merchants in Uzbekistan.

Rollout Expected Within a Year

While the agreement itself is a major step, the MEA has been clear about the actual operational timeline. In a special briefing on PM Modi's visit, Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Sibi George described the deal as "an important first step towards establishing greater interoperability between the digital payment ecosystems of our two countries" — with the practical rollout expected within a year.

That framing is important context. What has been achieved is the foundational commercial and regulatory architecture. The next 12 months will focus on the technical, banking and merchant-acceptance rollout that will translate this agreement into a live experience for Indian travellers.

Direct Person-to-Merchant Payments

Once fully operational, Indian tourists, business travellers and students will be able to make direct person-to-merchant (P2M) payments from their Indian bank accounts — eliminating foreign exchange markup friction and reducing reliance on international cards or cash.

For Indian travellers, that shift is genuinely meaningful. It means one familiar app, one familiar workflow, and no dependence on multiple currency conversions, prepaid forex cards or international card networks with their own fees. It also means faster, cleaner transactions with merchants who accept UZQR.

One of Many Outcomes From PM Modi's Visit

The UPI agreement was just one of 11 agreements and MoUs signed during PM Modi's two-day state visit to Uzbekistan (August 29-30). The visit also elevated bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, with agreements spanning culture, education, tourism, mining, traditional medicine, environment, finance and scientific research.

Both nations have also set a bilateral trade target of $5 billion by 2030 — an ambitious goal that will benefit significantly from smoother payment infrastructure between the two countries.

The Broader UPI International Story

UPI's global expansion continues to accelerate. According to the Finance Ministry statement, UPI is now accepted in 10 countries — including Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Greece — enabling Indian travellers to make seamless payments abroad.

The Maldives became the ninth country last month to announce the successful go-live of the integration between the Maldives Instant Payment System 'Favara' and India's UPI — enabling individuals in the Maldives to transfer funds to beneficiaries in India in real time, with transactions initiated in Maldivian Rufiyaa and credited to recipients in Indian Rupees through UPI.

Uzbekistan now joins this expanding list, extending UPI's international footprint firmly into Central Asia for the first time.

Why It Matters

UPI is one of India's most successful digital public infrastructure exports. It has fundamentally changed how India transacts domestically — with billions of monthly transactions running through the system. Its international rollout is now transforming a domestic revolution into a strategic global asset.

For Indian travellers, every new UPI acceptance geography reduces friction, cost and inconvenience. For India as a country, every new bilateral UPI agreement extends the country's digital soft power — positioning UPI as a scalable, sovereign, trusted alternative to legacy card networks and closed-loop payment systems.

For countries like Uzbekistan, integrating with UPI opens a low-cost, low-friction gateway to millions of potential Indian visitors — boosting tourism, business travel and student inflows.

Strategic Impact

The India-Uzbekistan UPI agreement carries strategic weight beyond payments. It is part of a broader push by both nations to translate their long-standing civilisational and political relationship into practical cooperation across economy, technology, education and people-to-people ties.

Uzbekistan is a critical player in Central Asia and a key partner in India's Connect Central Asia policy. Integrating digital payment systems strengthens the everyday, transactional layer of that partnership — the kind of infrastructure that quietly enables deeper economic engagement over time.

Industry Impact

For India's fintech and digital payments industry, the deal creates fresh opportunities. UPI-enabled apps like PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, BHIM and others will now have another international acceptance geography to build travel-related features around. Indian banks whose UPI networks are integrated with these apps will see cross-border transaction volume opportunities. For Uzbekistan's merchant ecosystem, UPI acceptance opens up a large and growing customer base with high purchasing power.

For NPCI and NIPL, the Uzbekistan deal reinforces their credibility as international payment infrastructure partners — building on the momentum from Singapore, UAE, France, Mauritius and other geographies.

Cultural and Travel Impact

For Indian travellers, Central Asia has long held cultural, historical and religious significance — from Samarkand and Bukhara's Silk Route heritage to the shared civilisational roots reflected in language, cuisine and Sufi traditions. Making it easier for Indians to travel through Uzbekistan by removing payment friction is likely to boost tourism, cultural exchange and educational travel over time.

For Uzbekistan, hosting more Indian visitors — with easier payments, better convenience and stronger inflows — feeds directly into its own tourism and hospitality economy.

The Bigger Picture

The NPCI-HUMO agreement announced during PM Modi's Uzbekistan visit is more than a payments story. It is a strategic marker in India's broader ambition to export its digital public infrastructure — with UPI as its flagship — to countries across Asia, Europe, Africa and beyond.

Every new UPI corridor built abroad quietly reinforces two things: the trust global regulators are placing in India's payment architecture, and the convenience Indian travellers can expect wherever they go. As the actual rollout unfolds over the coming year, Indian travellers heading to Tashkent, Samarkand or Bukhara can look forward to a day when their familiar UPI app will do all the work — no forex counters, no international cards, no cash-only merchants.

And in that quiet, seamless payment lies a much bigger story — India's growing role as a leader in global digital public infrastructure, and Uzbekistan's willingness to become one of the newest partners in that expanding story. UPI just took another step. And this time, that step landed in Central Asia.

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