How to make UPI payments while travelling to other countries

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) took the world by storm becoming India’s favored digital payment methods in just a couple of years. It is so efficient and lucrative that various countries have introduced India’s UPI as well. This allows users to make UPI payments when traveling, visiting, or NRIs in foreign countries such as the UAE. 

The Government of India is making all efforts to build a worldwide infrastructure to support UPI payments. You can already check for the list of countries that support UPI payments and the list is growing immensely. In fact, in a couple of years, merchants in these foreign countries might have QR codes at their outlets just like how you would find in India. This doesn’t just facilitate the visitors/NRIs making their payments but benefits the merchants and the international economy to a great extent. 

However, not everyone knows how they can manage their UPI payments when traveling internationally, right? If that’s you, trust me you’re not alone but it’s super easy to learn. Here’s everything you need to know to make UPI payments internationally. 

List of Countries where UPI Payments are available

As the famed UPI Payments is getting recognized worldwide, the following are the countries that support UPI internationally at the time of writing this.

• Bhutan
• France
• Europe
• Hong Kong
• Cambodia
• Singapore
• Vietnam
• Philippines
• Thailand
• Malaysia
• UAE
• Oman
• South Korea
• United Kingdom
• Japan
• Nepal
• Sri Lanka
• Mauritius

How To Activate UPI Payments Internationally?

• Open the UPI app
• Scan the QR Code where you want to make the purchase
• Enter the amount payable in foreign currency. You should get the current conversion rate, the bank fee and how much is the total on the screen
• Tap on ‘Activate UPI International’ and proceed by entering the PIN
• Finally, you should be able to make the payment

How to use UPI apps in other countries?

Let’s see how you can use UPI apps like Google Pay, and PhonePe, among others for international UPI transactions in any supported country.

1. First, you need an app for UPI Payments. You can download it from the App Store (for iPhones) and Google Play Store (for Android). Currently, PhonePe and Google Pay allow international UPI transactions but more will be introduced
2. You need to register your Indian bank account with the UPI app as usual. If you already have an account, you can skip steps 1 and 2 entirely
3. On the UPI app, scan the recipient’s QR code
4. Enter the amount payable in foreign currency such as AED 20 in the UAE. (The app will automatically generate a total amount in INR after conversion and the applicable bank fee). You should get the total amount payable in INR before proceeding with the transaction.
5. Select the account if you have multiple accounts added and hit ‘Pay’
6. Enter the UPI PIN
7. Payment done

If you are an NRI, here’s how you can enable UPI on your iPhone or Android –

1. Download an app that supports UPI payments internationally
2. Register using your NRE or NRO account
3. You need to enter all the banking details and the Indian phone number linked to the account. The app may trigger an OTP to confirm the link between the account and phone number.
4. Finally, you can enter the UPI ID to make payments without any hassle using Steps 3-7 from the previous ‘UPI apps in other countries’ section. 
5. UPI payments via NRE or NRO account will work in India across any merchant without a hitch.

How To Use UPI Payments Within India While Travelling Abroad?

One of the biggest concerns that people have when traveling abroad is how they will manage payments within India. For instance, a mutual fund installment could be due or you need to pay your electricity bill for your Indian house while you are in the UAE. How would you do this?

Luckily, UPI for payments within India works abroad as well. It means you can still scan the QR codes enter UPI or select the past recipients when travelling with ease. Here’s how.

1. You need to have a UPI-enabled app with your Indian bank account registered and working.
2. Don’t remove your SIM card registered with the bank and the UPI app as you might receive OTPs. Removing the SIM card from your primary phone where the UPI app is present could potentially render the app useless. 
3. Next, open the app, enter the UPI as usual, or you can scan the QR code (import from gallery), add bank details, or select the user or merchant from history (in case of recurring payments).
4. Enter the amount in INR (as usual).
5. Enter the PIN and your payment should go through.

Note that making UPI payments internationally may not be available in every part of the world and thus, you must do your due diligence to know if your visiting country supports India’s UPI payments both for domestic (within India) and international transactions (paying in a visiting country using UPI).

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