The development was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Uzbekistan. The two countries have agreed to move towards UPI interoperability as part of a broader expansion of cooperation in digital public infrastructure.
Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Sibi George said the rollout of UPI in Uzbekistan is expected within a year, according to ANI.
The official outcomes of Modi’s visit said a commercial agreement has been signed between NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) and Uzbekistan’s National Interbank Processing Centre JSC (NIPC).
Under the agreement, UPI apps in India will be enabled to scan Uzbekistan’s national QR code, UZQR, for merchant payments, according to the Press Information Bureau.
The arrangement is aimed at enabling interoperability between the payment systems of the two countries.
What this means for travellers
The proposed arrangement will allow Indian UPI apps to be used for merchant payments in Uzbekistan by scanning the country’s UZQR code, once the system is operational.
However, the rollout has not happened yet. The MEA has said implementation is expected within a year.The development was part of the outcomes of Modi’s meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent.
India and Uzbekistan also signed agreements covering areas including tourism, mining, education, culture and Ayurveda during the visit.
The two countries have elevated their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and set a target of increasing annual bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2030. The current bilateral trade between the two countries is more than $1 billion, according to the MEA.
-With agencies inputs
