UPI Payments Enabled Across Uzbekistan Through National UZQR

Indian travelers who visit the Uzbekistan can gets the benefit of making UPI payments at merchant outlets throughout the country through Uzbekistan’s interoperable national QR code, UZQR. The facility is due to the commercial agreement signed between NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and the National Interbank Processing Centre JSC (NIPC), the operator of Uzbekistan’s national payment system HUMO, on August 30, 2026.

Working of UPI Payment in Uzbekistan

According to the agreement, the Indian users will be able to scan UZQR code of merchants using the same UPI enabled app which they have already been using before. The payments will be made directly from their Indian banks’ account through person to merchant (P2M) transactions.

The partnership with Central Bank of Uzbekistan’s mandate of Unified National QR infrastructure will offer wide acceptance in terms of retail, hospitality and service establishments. In other words, visitors will not have to worry about carrying cash and international cards throughout their stay in the country.

The arrangement has been officially sanctioned by the concerned financial regulatory authorities such as RBI and CBU. HUMO has been appointed as the partner of NIPL for cross-border merchant acceptance.

Benefits to Indians Traversing to Uzbekistan

This payment service will be useful for Indians who travel to Uzbekistan for business, education or tourism purposes. The users will no longer have to carry cash with themselves and depend only on international cards for making merchant payments.

The system intends to remove any sort of friction due to foreign exchange markups. For merchants, integration of the national QR infrastructure will enable them to accept paying customers from India without making separate arrangements for it.

Why This Matters

The partnership between NIPL and NIPC is not just about ease of payments. This is yet another instance of India building its digital public infrastructure internationally and fostering economic cooperation digitally.

The partnership was launched during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Uzbekistan.

The launch of the service also highlights cooperation between the financial regulatory bodies of both countries for facilitating cross-border digital payments.

International Growth of UPI

UPI is already accepted in 10 countries: Singapore, UAE, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Greece.

After the addition of Uzbekistan, the list becomes even longer.