The United Payments Interface (UPI), developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has gone live at retail stores in Qatar, marking the eighth country to implement the digital payment platform.
The system has been deployed in collaboration with the Qatar National Bank (QNB) and the first retail chain to deploy the payment system is LuLu Hypermarket, promoted by Indian-origin businessman Yusuffali MA.
Which other nations have adopted UPI?
In September, UPI acceptance was enabled at Qatar duty free outlets at Doha airport. Other nations where UPI has been deployed at select locations include Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates.
The expansion in Qatar highlights the growing global reach and interoperability of India’s digital payment ecosystem, according to a statement from the LuLu group.
Local merchants, including LuLu stores, stand to benefit from rising transaction volumes as Qatar’s retail and tourism sectors adapt to growing demand for cashless, real-time payments.
QNB has integrated QR code-based UPI payments at point-of-sale (PoS) terminals for its merchant clients through a partnership with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL). This initiative is powered by NETSTARS’ payment solution, one of Japan’s leading payment gateway providers. It offers StarPay, a comprehensive platform that supports various domestic and international QR code and cashless payment methods.
What did Piyush Goyal say?
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, who inaugurated the UPI payment facility at LuLu, said: “The launch of UPI has the potential to revolutionise trade between Qatar and India. It’s an opportunity to expand our trust between the two nations because as we seamlessly integrate the payment systems of Qatar and India, our people will be able to trade more, trade smarter at lower cost.”
He said with the UPI the movement of money and capital will be faster, almost on a real time basis with a “very very low” cost. He also emphasised that 830,000 Indians who live in Qatar will benefit from this launch as their remittances will become faster and at a lower cost.
Launched nine years ago, UPI has become a landmark success in India’s digital economy. “About 85% of digital payments in India are routed through UPI, and nearly half of global digital transactions now take place on the platform,” Goyal said. The system processes an average of 640 million transactions daily, he noted, adding that it hit a record one billion transactions on September 22.