Indonesia and India are in advanced discussions to connect their respective digital payment systems, targeting a possible integration by year end.
The linkage of Indonesia’s QRIS and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will allow cross border transactions in local currencies, Jakarta Globe reported.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the initiative during Modi’s first visit to Jakarta since 2023. Prabowo told reporters that talks on the payment linkage were progressing well.
“This partnership is expected to boost transaction efficiency, while making our financial sector more resilient,”
Prabowo said following the meeting.
The cross-border connection will allow users to pay simply by scanning QR codes. Indonesian users will be able to pay in rupiah, while Indian users can transact in rupees through participating UPI-enabled applications.
While the national leaders did not specify a launch date, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Sandeep Chakravorty confirmed that the project is at a highly advanced stage.
Indonesia has continued expanding QRIS cross border payment access. The system is already operational for travellers in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, with China being the most recent addition.
The India linkage targets a growing demographic for Indonesia’s tourism sector.
Indian nationals were the third-largest group of foreign tourist arrivals between January and May 2026.
Indonesia recorded 222,470 arrivals from Indian passport holders during the period, behind Australia and China.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Indonesia, based on image by val-suprunovich and freepik via Magnific
