e-commerce
UPI goes live in Greece, expands global payments footprint to 10 nations
Eurobank partnership enables instant UPI payments as India extends digital reach in Europe
MUMBAI: From ancient ruins to modern rails of finance, India’s digital wallet has found another passport stamp. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has gone live in Greece, extending India’s fast-growing digital payments network into another European market and taking its international footprint to 10 countries.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced the launch during his visit to Athens, where he witnessed a live demonstration of UPI transactions enabled through a partnership between Eurobank and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL). The collaboration allows eligible users to make instant, secure and low-cost digital payments using UPI, reducing dependence on conventional cross-border payment systems while lowering transaction costs for travellers and merchants.
The Greece rollout follows India’s recent expansion of UPI acceptance at Galeries Lafayette in Nice, after its earlier launch at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, underscoring the country’s efforts to establish UPI as a globally recognised payment network.
Highlighting the development, Goyal said the growing international adoption of UPI reflects rising confidence in India’s technology-driven digital public infrastructure and its ability to deliver efficient payment solutions beyond domestic borders.
With Greece joining the network, UPI is now accepted in 10 countries: Greece, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. The wider footprint enables Indian travellers to make seamless payments abroad using familiar UPI-enabled applications without relying solely on cash or international payment cards.
The latest expansion forms part of India’s broader strategy to internationalise its digital public infrastructure. Through partnerships with banks, payment providers and governments worldwide, NPCI International continues to integrate UPI into overseas payment ecosystems, aiming to make cross-border transactions faster, simpler and more affordable.
As UPI steadily adds new destinations, India’s homegrown payments platform is evolving from a domestic success story into a global digital payments network, one international checkout at a time.
