India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has launched in Greece, extending the platform's international footprint to 10 countries. The rollout enables users of UPI-enabled applications to make digital payments in Greece, supported by a partnership between Eurobank and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL).
Rollout and government involvement
The launch was announced by India's Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, during an official visit to Athens, where he attended a demonstration of UPI payments at Eurobank's headquarters. According to Goyal, the partnership will allow eligible users to transfer money instantly and securely while reducing transaction costs compared with conventional cross-border payment methods.
With Greece added to the network, UPI is now accepted in Greece, Singapore, the UAE, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. The expansion is intended to benefit Indian tourists, business travellers, and members of the Indian diaspora by enabling merchant payments without relying extensively on cash or international card networks.
Continued expansion across Europe
Greece is the latest European market to adopt UPI, following the platform's launch at Galeries Lafayette in Nice, France, earlier in 2026. In 2024, UPI acceptance was introduced at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, one of its earlier high-profile European deployments. The continued rollout across Europe forms part of India's broader strategy of extending its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) internationally through partnerships with banks, payment providers, and governments.
Strategic significance for India's payments infrastructure
Goyal said the growing international adoption of UPI reflects increasing global confidence in India's payments technology, describing the expansion as evidence of trust in India's approach to building technology-led financial solutions. UPI, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), enables real-time bank-to-bank transfers through mobile applications and has become central to domestic digital payments in India. Its international expansion is aimed at simplifying cross-border payments, reducing remittance costs, and improving payment convenience for Indian users travelling abroad.
The Greece launch represents a further step in India's efforts to establish UPI as an internationally recognised payments network, with NPCI International continuing to pursue partnerships aimed at integrating the platform into overseas financial ecosystems.
