The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday announced the launch of payment systems connectivity between India and Cambodia, allowing Indian travellers to make UPI-based QR code payments at merchants across the Southeast Asian nation.
The facility, launched in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, marks the first phase of collaboration between NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) and Acleda Bank Plc under the aegis of the RBI and the National Bank of Cambodia.
Under the arrangement, Indian users can make real-time merchant payments at more than 4.5 million merchants enabled with Cambodia’s KHQR, the country’s national QR code standard, using UPI-enabled applications.
According to the central bank, the linkage would allow Indian travellers visiting Cambodia to make physical merchant payments thereby reducing dependence on cash and provide an alternative to card based transactions.
The launch represents first phase of the India-Cambodia payment connectivity project, which is focused on QR code-based person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions.
The second phase would allow Cambodian travellers to make payments at UPI QR-enabled merchants in India. RBI said this function would be rolled out subsequently.
The RBI said the initiative is part of its ongoing efforts to interlink UPI with fast payment systems in other jurisdictions to facilitate seamless cross-border payments.
The move is aligned with the G20 roadmap aimed at making cross-border payments cheaper, faster, more transparent and accessible.
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