India’s revolutionary digital payment system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), is poised to make waves beyond its borders once again. A latest report reveals that Japan is gearing up to introduce UPI for Indian tourists, following successful trials with IT giant NTT Data.
According to Nikkei Asia, NTT Data and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) are collaborating to launch UPI pilots in Japan by fiscal year 2026. This will allow Indian visitors to scan QR codes and pay seamlessly, with funds debited directly from their home bank accounts.
The initiative addresses the surge in Indian travelers to Japan. In 2025 alone, around 315,000 Indians visited, marking a 35% jump from the previous year. With McKinsey projecting India’s outbound tourism to skyrocket from 13 million in 2022 to 90 million by 2040, driven by rising middle-class incomes, such integrations are timely.
UPI, launched in 2016, has transformed everyday transactions in India. Enabling payments across apps via a single QR code, it recorded 185.8 billion transactions in FY2024, a 42% increase. The IMF recently hailed it as the world’s largest real-time payment system.
NPCI has already expanded UPI to eight countries including Bhutan, Singapore, France, Sri Lanka, and the UAE. Efforts are underway to assist Peru and Namibia in building similar infrastructures.
NTT Data, already serving 6 million Indian merchants, is bridging Japanese and Indian payment ecosystems. In India, UPI powered 58% of retail payments in 2024, projected to hit 76% by 2030, while cash transactions could drop to 7%.
This move underscores UPI’s global appeal as a unified platform fostering innovation among banks and fintechs, potentially revolutionizing cross-border payments for tourists worldwide.