New Delhi [India], August 31 (ANI): Indian tourists, business travellers and students visiting Uzbekistan will soon be able to make merchant payments using their UPI-enabled applications by scanning the country's national interoperable QR code, UZQR, under a new partnership between NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) and Uzbekistan's National Interbank Processing Centre JSC (NIPC).

NIPL, the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), entered into a commercial agreement with NIPC, operator of Uzbekistan's national payment system HUMO, on August 30, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The partnership will allow UPI users to make instant person-to-merchant (P2M) payments across Uzbekistan by scanning UZQR, providing a more seamless payment option for Indian visitors and reducing their reliance on international cards and cash.

The agreement was announced during the bilateral visit of the Prime Minister of India to Uzbekistan and follows formal approvals from financial regulators in both countries, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU).

Under the arrangement, HUMO has been designated as NIPL's authorised partner for cross-border merchant acceptance. By integrating with the CBU-mandated Unified National QR infrastructure, UPI users are expected to gain near-universal acceptance across retail, hospitality and service merchants in Uzbekistan.

The initiative will enable Indian users to make payments directly from their Indian bank accounts while travelling in Uzbekistan. According to the Ministry, this is expected to reduce foreign exchange markup-related friction and provide an alternative to carrying cash or using international payment cards.

The partnership also marks a further expansion of India's digital payments infrastructure overseas and strengthens digital public infrastructure cooperation between India and Uzbekistan.

The latest agreement adds Uzbekistan to the growing international footprint of UPI. According to the Ministry, UPI is currently accepted in 10 countries -- Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Greece.

The expansion of UPI acceptance overseas is aimed at making cross-border payments more convenient for Indian travellers while extending India's digital payments capabilities to international markets.

The NIPL-NIPC partnership is expected to strengthen payment connectivity between the two countries and support greater use of digital payments by Indian visitors across Uzbekistan. (ANI)