India, Canada explore UPI integration alongside investment treaty and CEPA talks
India and Canada are exploring UPI links with Canadian payment providers to ease cross-border remittances and merchant payments for tourists, students and SMEs, alongside proposed investment-treaty and CEPA negotiations.
What happened
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) · India and Canada plan investment-treaty and CEPA talks, while exploring UPI integration with Canadian payment providers to
Key facts
- ₹4.65 lakh crore (CAD 70 billion) bilateral trade target by 2030
- $50 billion merchandise trade target by 2030
- $8 billion India-Canada merchandise trade in 2025-26
- $4.67 billion Indian exports in 2025-26
- $3.28 billion Indian imports in 2025-26
Why this matters
Payments platforms, banks and merchant acquirers should assess Canadian UPI partnership options early, particularly where they can pair acceptance capabilities with remittance, FX and India-bound merchant services.
What to watch
- Formal India-Canada joint statement naming UPI, NPCI International, RBI, Bank of Canada, FINTRAC or specific Canadian payment partners.
- Memorandum of understanding between NPCI International and a Canadian bank, acquirer, remittance operator or fintech.
- Pilot announcement defining use cases: tourist merchant payments, student spending, P2P transfers or Canada-to-India remittances.
- Progress on CEPA or bilateral investment treaty talks, indicating improved political conditions for financial-services cooperation.
- Canadian regulatory guidance on cross-border instant payments, stored value, FX conversion, AML/KYC and data handling.
- Merchant pilot deployment at high-Indian-traffic locations and visible UPI QR acceptance in Toronto, Vancouver, Brampton or university corridors.
- Assess Canadian payment acquirers, remittance firms and POS platforms with meaningful Indian-origin customer or merchant exposure for likely partnership announcements.
- Model lower remittance fees and faster settlement as a retention lever for diaspora-focused banks, neobanks and money-transfer operators.
- Prioritize UPI-compatible QR acceptance at merchants serving Indian tourists and students, including airports, universities, hotels, grocery, telecom and apparel locations.
- Prepare FX disclosure, refund, dispute-resolution, AML and sanctions workflows; these are likely to be the gating requirements rather than payment-rail connectivity alone.
- Track whether Canadian merchant acceptance is routed through existing global UPI partners, which could accelerate rollout without a bespoke nationwide network integration.