Bank of Baroda lets US, UAE and Singapore tourists pay Indian merchants via home apps
Bank of Baroda has launched UPI Global Reverse Acceptance, allowing eligible inbound travellers to scan its UPI QR codes and pay Indian merchants using participating payment apps from their home markets.
What happened
Bank of Baroda launched UPI Global Reverse Acceptance, enabling tourists from participating countries including the US, UAE and Singapore to pay Indian
Key facts
- UPI transaction value rose from ₹0.07 lakh crore in FY17 to around ₹314 lakh crore in FY26
- More than 4,000-fold increase over a decade
- UPI launched on August 25, 2016
Why this matters
Payments platforms and acquiring banks should assess partnerships with Bank of Baroda and participating overseas wallets to capture inbound-traveller transaction flows and merchant distribution.
What to watch
- Announcement of additional participating foreign payment apps, banks or countries beyond the US, UAE and Singapore.
- Evidence that the service works across all standard UPI QR codes versus only Bank of Baroda-issued QR codes.
- Published FX rates, fees, refund flows, transaction limits and merchant settlement terms.
- Adoption by airport, hotel, travel, rail, attraction and large retail chains.
- NPCI, RBI or major acquirer moves to standardize reverse acceptance across Indian merchant QR infrastructure.
- Reported inbound-tourist transaction volumes, repeat usage and card-to-QR tender migration.
- Prioritize UPI QR visibility at inbound-tourism merchant clusters: airports, hotels, heritage sites, medical-tourism providers, luxury retail, restaurants and transport operators.
- Add clear signage naming supported countries and payment apps, with staff scripts for handling foreign-app QR payments and payment-status disputes.
- Payment aggregators and acquirers should package tourist-ready merchant bundles combining QR decals, multilingual checkout guidance, reconciliation and FX/settlement reporting.
- Retailers with high foreign-footfall should compare conversion, basket size, authorization success and tender mix against international cards and cash.
- Banks and fintechs should pursue additional reciprocal corridors, particularly UK, EU, Southeast Asian and Gulf traveller markets, where India-bound visitor flows are material.