The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced two separate strategic partnerships with HSBC India and J.P. Morgan Payments to introduce real-time foreign exchange (FX) conversion and settlement for international Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions.
The dual collaboration represents a major upgrade to India’s digital public infrastructure, aiming to eliminate pricing ambiguity for outbound Indian travelers and reduce backend friction for overseas merchants.
Instant Transparency at the Point of Sale
Historically, international transactions via credit cards or standard banking rails carry hidden conversion markups, with the final rupee deduction appearing on statements days later.
By integrating directly with HSBC India and J.P. Morgan via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the new solution changes how cross-border transactions settle:
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Live Rupee Readouts: When an Indian traveler scans a UPI QR code abroad, the direct API integration pulls real-time FX rates, displaying the exact Indian Rupee (INR) amount to be deducted before the user hits authorize.
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Local Currency Outflows: While the consumer pays seamlessly in INR directly from their Indian bank account, the banking partners instantly convert the funds, allowing international merchants and financial institutions to receive the payment in their local currency.
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24/7 Operations: Backed by the global networks of both international banks, the system supports continuous, round-the-clock currency conversion and end-to-end settlement across multiple corridors.
Tracking UPI’s Global Footprint
The partnership is timed to support the rapid acceleration of India’s cross-border payment network. International UPI transaction volumes officially crossed the one million mark for the first time in FY26, climbing to 1.48 million transactions (valued at ₹330.43 crore), up from 0.75 million in FY25.
The real-time FX settlement framework will initially support transactions across the nine countries where UPI is currently live, alongside a pipeline of upcoming territory launches:
| Currently Operational Markets | Planned Global Corridors |
| * Singapore, UAE, France | * Japan |
| * Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Qatar | * Maldives |
| * Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia | * Greece |
“Our collaboration represents an important step toward enabling efficient forex conversion and real-time settlement for cross-border transactions, delivering transparent payment experiences for users,” an NPCI spokesperson stated, noting that the solution directly supports the global scaling of India’s retail payment infrastructure.
