NIPL ties up with HUMO to enable UPI payments in Uzbekistan
Following regulatory approvals in India and Uzbekistan, Indian travellers will be able to pay at Uzbek retail, hospitality and service outlets by scanning UZQR codes through UPI.
What happened
NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) · NIPL has partnered with Uzbekistan’s HUMO payment network to let Indian UPI users pay merchants by scanning UZQR codes,
Key facts
- UPI is currently accepted in 10 countries
- Agreement signed on August 30
Why this matters
Payments, fintech and travel platforms should assess partnerships around UPI-UZQR acceptance, merchant onboarding and traveller-facing payment experiences in Uzbekistan.
What to watch
- Launch date and the number of UZQR merchants enabled for UPI payments.
- Transaction caps, foreign-exchange conversion rates, refund handling and settlement timelines for Indian users and Uzbek merchants.
- UPI app support list and whether major Indian PSPs actively surface Uzbekistan acceptance.
- Indian visitor arrivals to Uzbekistan and UPI transaction volumes in tourism-heavy cities.
- Expansion from merchant QR payments into P2P, transit, e-commerce or remittance use cases.
- NIPL and HUMO will prioritize merchant education and UPI/UZQR branding in tourism corridors including Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara.
- Indian banks and UPI apps may add Uzbekistan-specific onboarding prompts, FX disclosures and travel-payment marketing.
- Uzbek acquirers could use the integration to recruit more small merchants into UZQR acceptance, especially in hospitality, transport and souvenir retail.
- NIPL may pursue adjacent Central Asian QR-payment linkages, using Uzbekistan as a proof point for regulator-to-regulator expansion.