Standards/lankaqr
LankaQR
Overview
LANKAQR is Sri Lanka's national unified interoperable QR-payment standard, launched 5 October 2020 by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in collaboration with LankaPay (formerly LankaClear Pvt Ltd) and licensed financial institutions [1, 3, [lk-cro]]. LANKAQR is EMVCo-compliant, runs on LankaPay's Common Electronic Fund Transfer Switch (CEFTS), and provides a unified national QR code standard for local currency payments — standardising QR codes across banks and payment apps. As of recent data, 21 local banks and finance companies are connected, enabling over 400,000 merchants across Sri Lanka.
March 2025 marked an inflection: Alipay+ Sri Lanka integration via LankaPay — enabling Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Thai, and other Asian tourists with Alipay-connected wallets to pay at LANKAQR merchants using their home wallets [alipay-plus]. This cross-border integration is structurally similar to twqr cross-border partnerships and reflects Sri Lanka's tourism-economy importance. The Sri Lankan context post-2022 (sovereign-debt-default crisis, economic recovery) makes LANKAQR's role as low-cost payment infrastructure for SMEs particularly important during the country's economic-recovery phase.
History
Background — Sri Lankan payment landscape pre-2020 LK:
- Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) — regulator.
- LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd — payment-clearing-house, later rebranded LankaPay.
- CEFTS (Common Electronic Fund Transfer Switch) — interbank rail.
- Pre-2020: fragmented closed-loop QR landscape.
5 October 2020 — National LANKAQR initiative launched [1, 3]:
- CBSL launches LANKAQR with LankaClear/LankaPay.
- EMVCo-compliant unified national QR standard.
- Designed to minimise cash usage, particularly for SMEs.
LankaPay's role [2]:
- LankaClear rebrands as LankaPay.
- Operates the CEFTS rail underlying LANKAQR.
- Coordinates implementation across financial institutions.
Adoption growth LK:
- 21 local banks + finance companies connect.
- 400,000+ merchants nationwide accepting.
2022-2023 — Sri Lankan economic crisis context LK:
- Sri Lanka defaults on sovereign debt (2022).
- Foreign-exchange shortages, fuel queues, political turmoil.
- LANKAQR's low-cost-payment-for-SMEs positioning particularly important during recovery.
March 2025 — Alipay+ Sri Lanka launches [alipay-plus]:
- LankaPay + Ant International announce Alipay+ enablement.
- Inbound tourists with Alipay-connected wallets (10+ Asian markets) can pay at LANKAQR merchants.
Technical specification
LANKAQR is CBSL/LankaPay-operated EMVCo-compliant national QR standard [1, 2]:
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Standards body | Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) |
| Operator | LankaPay (formerly LankaClear Pvt Ltd) |
| Underlying rail | CEFTS (Common Electronic Fund Transfer Switch) |
| Specification | EMVCo QR Code Specification |
| Compliance | PCI-DSS (for sensitive payment information) |
| Currency | LKR (Sri Lankan rupee) |
| Participants | 21 local banks + finance companies |
| Merchants | 400,000+ nationwide |
| Cross-border | Alipay+ (since March 2025) |
Cross-border via Alipay+ [alipay-plus]:
- Inbound Asian tourists with Alipay-connected wallets can pay at LANKAQR merchants.
- Important for Sri Lankan tourism-economy recovery.
Use cases
Merchant payments (P2B) [1]: Cardinal use — customer scans LANKAQR at merchant; payment processes via CEFTS.
SME enablement (low-cost payments) [1]: Strategic positioning — particularly important for Sri Lankan SMEs in post-2022 economic-recovery context.
Cash-displacement [1]: CBSL strategic goal.
Cross-app interoperability [1]: Single QR accepted by all 21 participating bank/finance apps.
Cross-border tourism (Alipay+ inbound) [alipay-plus]: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Thai tourists pay at Sri Lankan merchants via Alipay+.
Implementations & ecosystem
Standards body: Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
Operator: LankaPay (formerly LankaClear).
21 local banks + finance companies LK:
- Commercial Bank of Ceylon.
- Hatton National Bank (HNB).
- Sampath Bank.
- Bank of Ceylon (state).
- People's Bank (state).
- Seylan Bank.
- 15+ additional banks and finance companies.
Cross-border partner: Ant International (Alipay+) since March 2025.
Acquirer integrations: Marx Pay and other Sri Lankan payment-service providers.
Fun facts
- EMVCo-compliant from day 1: CBSL's October 2020 launch followed proven EMVCo-mandated path used by sgqr, duitnow-qr, promptpay-qr, etc.
- 400,000 merchants across the island: Significant penetration in Sri Lanka's ~22M population.
- Alipay+ March 2025 integration: Sri Lanka joins the growing list of LANKAQR-acceptance-meets-Alipay+ markets — leveraging tourism economy.
- Economic-crisis-recovery role: LANKAQR's low-cost-SME-payment positioning is particularly important during Sri Lanka's post-2022 economic recovery — payment infrastructure as economic resilience.
- LankaPay's broader role: LankaPay (formerly LankaClear) operates not just LANKAQR but also CEFTS, JustPay, Common ATM Switch, Common Mobile Switch — comprehensive interbank infrastructure.
- CBSL coordination: Central Bank coordinates the LANKAQR initiative — common pattern with peers like [[lank...wait]] / ke-qr-code, mia-qr.
- Ant International partnership: Reflects the increasingly-common pattern of national QR rails integrating with Alipay+ for inbound Chinese/Asian tourist payments.
Comparison
| Feature | LANKAQR (LK) | promptpay-qr (TH) | duitnow-qr (MY) | bangla-qr (BD) | bhutan-qr (BT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standards body | CBSL | NITMX/ITMX | PayNet | Bangladesh Bank | RMA |
| Launch | Oct 2020 | 2017 | 2017/2019 | Mar 2019 | 2020 |
| Specification | EMVCo | EMVCo MPM | EMVCo MPM/CPM | EMVCo MPM | UPI-aligned |
| Banks/FIs | 21 | All TH banks | PayNet members | All BD banks | 5 |
| Merchants | 400,000+ | High | High | Growing | 23,315 |
| Cross-border | Alipay+ (Mar 2025) | SG, MY, JP, VN, ID | SG, TH | n/a | India BHIM-UPI |
Closest peer: bangla-qr (BD) — similar South Asian central-bank-coordinated EMVCo national QR.
Status
Active, growing Sri Lankan national QR [1, 3]:
- CBSL + LankaPay operators.
- EMVCo-compliant since October 2020.
- 21 banks + finance companies + 400,000+ merchants.
- Alipay+ cross-border since March 2025.
- CEFTS underlying rail.
Sources
- 1 LankaQR — CBSL
- 2 LankaPay — official
- 3 National LANKAQR launch — CBSL
- alipay-plus Alipay+ Sri Lanka launch
- [lk-cro]
reports/countries/LK-sri-lanka.md
Deployments
Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):
- LK — LK-sri-lanka.md