How UPI Is Expanding Its Global Footprint And Securing Digital Payments

Discover how India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has achieved remarkable user growth, expanded its international presence, and implemented advanced security measures to safeguard digital transactions.

Around 55.49 crore UPI users were onboarded on the payments platform until June 2026, Parliament was informed on Monday. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a payment system operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), authorised under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. UPI transactions stood at 24,162 crore in volume and Rs 314 lakh crore in value in FY 2025-26, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Expanding UPI's Global Footprint

NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NPCI, incorporated in April 2020 with the objective of partnering with foreign entities to take various NPCI payment platforms, such as UPI and the RuPay card scheme, to international markets, he said. This enables Indian tourists and the Indian diaspora to make seamless cross-border payments while assisting partner countries and entities in building their payment infrastructure, such as UPI-like real-time payment systems or RuPay-like domestic card schemes, he said.

Ensuring Secure Digital Transactions

In order to make UPI-based transactions secure and transparent, various initiatives have been undertaken by the Government, RBI and NPCI from time to time, he said. These include risk-based transaction limits to curb fraudulent transactions, safeguards against unauthorised mobile number changes and misuse of SMS-based authentication, as well as enhanced security requirements for UPI applications, he said. Further, he said, NPCI has issued the Comprehensive UPI Information Security Framework (CUISF) 2025 and the Mobile Application Security Framework, mandating advanced security controls to strengthen the safety and resilience of the UPI ecosystem.

International Reach And Fintech Ecosystem Review

UPI is linked with the payment systems of various countries to facilitate Person-to-Person (P2P) remittances and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions. P2M is live in nine countries while P2P is live in three countries Nepal, Greece and Singapore. Replying to another question, Chaudhary said, the Government has been constantly engaging with the financial sector regulators and other concerned stakeholders to review the issues related to the fintech ecosystem, including digital lending platforms and payment aggregators in the country. Based on such review assessment, various regulatory and supervisory interventions have been taken from time to time, he added. The banks, through the public-facing platform 'SACHET' portal and the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC), facilitate the citizens in lodging any complaints against specific entities related to deposit/ collection of money illegally, he said. RBI and banks have been taking up awareness campaigns through short SMS, radio campaigns and publicity on prevention of 'cyber-crime', he said. Further, he said, RBI has been conducting electronic-banking awareness and training (eBAAT) programmes which focus on awareness about fraud and risk mitigation.