PhonePe Enables Cross-Border UPI Payments in Select Countries

PhonePe is now enabling cross-border Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments in select countries.

With this support for UPI international payments, PhonePe’s Indian users can pay foreign merchants instantly when traveling abroad, the Indian eCommerce payment system and digital wallet company said in a Tuesday (Feb. 7) post on LinkedIn.

“I am sure this launch will prove to be a game-changer and will completely transform the way Indians traveling overseas pay at merchant outlets abroad,” PhonePe Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Rahul Chari said in the post.

UPI is the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI’s) flagship payments platform. Launched in 2016, UPI crossed the 1 billion transaction mark in October 2019.

It has continued to grow since then, with NPCI announcing Jan. 10 that it is widening access to the UPI to non-resident Indians in several countries.

PhonePe said in its LinkedIn post that its current launch of support for UPI international payments supports international merchant outlets in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR code.

At these locations, PhonePe’s Indian users will be able to make payments in foreign currency directly from their Indian bank rather than having to use a foreign currency or their credit or foreign exchange (FX) cards, the firm said in the post.

“Over the past six years, all over India, we have been lucky to experience the UPI payments revolution transforming our daily lives,” Chari said in the post. “UPI International is the first major step in letting the rest of the world experience UPI too.”

This announcement comes as PhonePe — which was founded in 2015, went live in 2016 and was the first payment app built on UPI — works to grow its financial super app and branch into new financial avenues.

“We are looking forward to the next phase of our growth as we invest in new businesses — like insurance, wealth management and lending, while also enabling the next wave of growth for UPI payments in India,” PhonePe founder and CEO Sameer Nigam said in December. “This will help propel our vision to provide billions of Indians with financial inclusion.”