India's UPI is going global again. Zimbabwe is now in talks to adopt it

Zimbabwe is in talks with the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India to upgrade its payments technology, as the country seeks to cut transaction costs and speed up payments, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

The proposed system would use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as common infrastructure, allowing banks, mobile-money operators, fintech companies and other payment providers to connect and process transactions in real time.

The talks with NPCI International Payments Ltd could conclude by October 31, Zimbabwe central bank Governor John Mushayavanhu told Bloomberg.

Mushayavanhu said the technology could help create new financial products and allow banks to extend services to merchants more cheaply. Account-to-account transfers could also reduce reliance on cards for low-value domestic transactions, he said.

The system could give the government more reliable data on small and medium-sized businesses. That could help measure their contribution to the economy more accurately, according to the governor.

Zimbabwe is among several African countries expanding digital payments to lower transaction costs, bring more businesses into the formal financial system and reduce reliance on cash.

Mushayavanhu said Zimbabwe could eventually use UPI for cross-border and remittance payments.

More than 700 banks use UPI, accounting for nearly 49% of real-time payment transactions globally.

The NPCI launched UPI on August 25, 2016, under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India. It has since become a major part of India's digital payments system and a driver of financial inclusion.

UPI is currently operational in 11 countries: the United Arab Emirates, France, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Singapore, Mauritius, Qatar, Cambodia, Greece, and the Maldives.

UPI accounted for 84% of India's digital payment transactions in FY2025-26 and 49% of global real-time payment volumes in 2025, the Finance Ministry said in a note in August this year.