Payments Bullish 6

UPI Expands in Sri Lanka: NPCI Strengthens Cross-Border Retail Payments

NPCI International has significantly expanded UPI merchant acceptance in Sri Lanka through a partnership with LankaPay, allowing Indian tourists to pay via LankaQR codes. The initiative integrates major retail and hospitality brands like Keells and Taj Hotels into a seamless digital payment corridor.

· 3 min read · Verified by 4 sources · By Retail Intelligence Brief Editorial
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Key Takeaways

  • NPCI International has significantly expanded UPI merchant acceptance in Sri Lanka through a partnership with LankaPay, allowing Indian tourists to pay via LankaQR codes.
  • The initiative integrates major retail and hospitality brands like Keells and Taj Hotels into a seamless digital payment corridor.

Mentioned

NPCI International Payments Limited company Unified Payments Interface product LankaPay company Ritesh Shukla person Keells Supermarket company Taj Hotels company LankaQR product

Key Intelligence

Key Facts

  1. 1Indian tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka grew from 416,000 in 2024 to 531,000 in 2025.
  2. 2UPI currently processes over 20 billion financial transactions monthly in India.
  3. 3The integration allows Indian tourists to pay by scanning LankaQR codes with UPI apps.
  4. 4Major participating merchants include Keells Supermarket, Odel, and Taj Hotels.
  5. 5The partnership is a collaboration between NPCI International (NIPL) and LankaPay.

Who's Affected

Indian Tourists
personPositive
Sri Lankan Retailers
companyPositive
LankaPay
companyPositive
NPCI International
companyPositive

Analysis

NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has announced a major expansion of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Sri Lanka, marking a significant milestone in the globalization of India's digital payment infrastructure. This strategic move is designed to capture the spending power of India's massive tourist base by enabling seamless, real-time transactions across the island nation. By partnering with LankaPay, NIPL is allowing Indian travelers to use their familiar UPI-enabled mobile applications to scan LankaQR codes at local merchants, effectively eliminating the friction of currency exchange and the risks associated with carrying physical cash.

The timing of this expansion is critical as Sri Lanka continues to see a robust recovery in its tourism sector, with India serving as its primary source market. Data indicates that Indian visitor arrivals grew from 416,000 in 2024 to over 531,000 in 2025. By facilitating a payment method that Indian consumers already use for over 20 billion transactions monthly at home, Sri Lanka is lowering the barrier to entry for consumer spending in its retail, hospitality, and service sectors. This interoperability is expected to drive higher transaction volumes and larger basket sizes as tourists benefit from transparent exchange rates and the convenience of instant account-to-account transfers.

NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has announced a major expansion of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Sri Lanka, marking a significant milestone in the globalization of India's digital payment infrastructure.

From a retail perspective, the rollout has already secured high-profile adoption across several key sectors. Major entities including Keells Supermarket, Odel, and Barista, alongside luxury hospitality providers like Cinnamon Hotels and Taj Hotels, have already integrated the system. For these merchants, the benefits extend beyond simple customer convenience. The adoption of UPI provides access to a digitally savvy demographic, improves back-end cash management, and enhances operational efficiency by reducing the overhead costs of handling physical currency. This move positions Sri Lankan retailers to better compete for the international traveler's wallet in an increasingly digital global economy.

What to Watch

Ritesh Shukla, MD and CEO of NPCI International, emphasized that this engagement reflects a shared vision to build trusted, interoperable payment corridors. This strategy is part of a broader global trend where regional payment giants are looking to bypass traditional, often more expensive, international credit card networks. By offering a direct, real-time settlement mechanism, the UPI-LankaPay partnership provides a compelling alternative that benefits both the consumer and the merchant through lower transaction costs and immediate liquidity.

Looking ahead, the success of this corridor will likely serve as a blueprint for further UPI expansion across South Asia and potentially Southeast Asia. As NIPL continues to collaborate with Sri Lankan regulators and financial institutions, the network is expected to expand into transport, public services, and smaller regional vendors. For the e-commerce and retail sectors, this development underscores the growing importance of cross-border payment interoperability as a fundamental requirement for regional economic integration. Industry observers should watch for similar bilateral agreements in other tourism-heavy corridors, which could eventually challenge the dominance of legacy global payment systems.

Timeline

Timeline

  1. Tourism Milestone

  2. Growth Trend

  3. UPI Expansion

Sources

Sources

Based on 4 source articles

Cite This Page

"UPI Expands in Sri Lanka: NPCI Strengthens Cross-Border Retail Payments." Retail Intelligence Brief, March 18, 2026. https://getretailbrief.com/story/upi-sri-lanka-expansion-npci-payments

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Signal on this pageWhat it tells you
Verified by N sourcesIndependent corroboration count. N≥2 is our confidence floor; N=1 is marked explicitly.
Impact score (1-10)Regulatory + financial + operational weight. 8+ signals an experienced-operator action item.
SentimentFive-tier classification trained on labeled retail-specific corpora.
TimelineWhere applicable, the related-events sequence that contextualizes today's development.