Friday, July 11, 2025
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) International Payments Limited (NIPL), the overseas subsidiary of India’s National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has made remarkable efforts at increasing the use of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the UAE. As a result of millions of Indians visiting the UAE every year and the nation’s increasing drive for a cashless economy, the growth represents an important breakthrough, reaping benefits for consumers as well as businesses across international boundaries.
UPI, India’s real-time, account-to-account payment system, has transformed the payment process in India. Processing a staggering 18 billion transactions per month, UPI is among the largest digital payment systems globally. UPI enables instantaneous, secure, and seamless transactions through mobile applications, giving users a convenient and easy method to make and receive transactions. Due to the open architecture and strong security features of the UPI system, it can conform to global regulatory landscapes, such as the UAE.
The UAE is one of India’s major travel and remittance corridors. Indians are the largest overseas group of visitors to the UAE, with the Ministry of Tourism of India recording that seven million Indians visit the UAE annually. UPI’s introduction into the UAE’s payment infrastructure has the potential to simplify the travel process of these visitors, allowing them to process transactions through the same mobile applications used back in India. This allows Indian visitors to enjoy a convenient, secure, and familiar method of payment while reducing the use of cash, speeding up transactions, and reducing costs for firms.
UAE’s Initiative Towards a Cashless Economy and the Role of UPI
The UAE has set an ambitious target of achieving 90% digital transactions by 2026, a goal that aligns perfectly with NPCI International’s efforts to scale UPI in the country. To achieve this vision, the UAE government has been working on developing and integrating digital payment platforms that can cater to a wide range of sectors, including retail, hospitality, transportation, and more. The introduction of UPI as part of this vision provides a seamless digital payment solution for both businesses and consumers.
It was a privilege to have His Excellency Satish Kumar Sivan, Consul General of India, Dubai, express his enthusiasm about the increasing penetration of UPI into the UAE. “Indian diaspora and Indian tourist travel experience to the UAE will never remain the same again following the full integration of UPI with the UAE’s digital payment infrastructure. I am happy to note that NIPL is taking aggressive initiatives to deliver a seamless Indian clientele experience through cooperation with merchant entities, payment solution partners, and banks in the UAE.”
A Growing Network of Partners and Collaborations
In the last couple of years, NIPL has established a solid base for UPI in the UAE by forming alliances with major financial institutions and payment system providers. Key alliances include alliances with NeoPay (Mashreq), Network International, and Magnati, which have facilitated UPI QR-based transactions over a fast-growing merchant network.
Dubai Duty-Free and Lulu Hypermarket, flagship retail stores, have already onboarded UPI payment systems, enabling Indian consumers to directly make payments through their Indian bank accounts. Such a partnership reflects the increasing uptake of UPI by the UAE and shows the platform’s ability to further simplify cross-border transactions, enabling wider convenience for both businesses and consumers.
Ritesh Shukla, MD & CEO, NPCI International, shared his pride about the contributions of the company to speeding up UPI adoption in the UAE. “We are delighted to speed up the adoption of UPI in the UAE, a feat that not only delivers unprecedented convenience to millions of Indian visitors but fortifies the digital connection between our two economies as well. By facilitating seamless, secure, and real-time transactions, we are empowering consumers and merchants alike. Our foray into the UAE marks new benchmarks for cross-border financial interconnectedness and complements the UAE’s mission of a cashless economy.”
Way Forward: Expansion of UPI in Strategic Areas
As part of the next phase, NPCI International is actively engaging with the regulators, acquirers, and stakeholders of the industry in the UAE to promote UPI adoption among the broad-based, high-frequency segments such as retail, hospitality, entertainment, transportation, and core services. Through a sector-specific strategy, UPI can realize its full potential across various segments, enabling seamless payment transactions for the benefit of users and optimizing business operations.
One of the key features of UPI is its support for real-time payments in Indian rupees, which is beneficial for both consumers and merchants. The platform also provides transparent exchange rates, enabling businesses to offer competitive pricing and enhancing customer satisfaction. Additionally, UPI incorporates safeguards like two-factor authentication, transaction limits, and international usage controls, ensuring that transactions are secure and compliant with global standards.
A Promising Future for Digital Payments in UAE and Beyond
The payment system of the UAE is experiencing a transformation, and NPCI International has a role to play in shaping the transformation. NPCI International’s endeavors to promote the adoption of UPI in the UAE are a reflection of the growing trust in the payment infrastructure of India and its compatibility with the international market. By developing a seamless, secure, and cross-border payment system, NIPL seeks to strengthen collaborations and usher in the age of digital transformation. With increasing adoption of UPI in the UAE, it will have a profound impact in terms of payment convenience for both UAE-based businesses as well as Indian visitors. India-UAE cooperation is paving the way for a new age of financial digital connectivity that will positively impact millions of people and enterprises across the border.
(Source: NPCI International, Government of India, Government of UAE)
