UPI-LankaQR

Overview

The UPI-LankaQR Linkage lets Indian travellers in Sri Lanka pay merchants by scanning LankaQR, Sri Lanka's national QR code standard, using Indian UPI apps [1][4]. UPI acceptance over LankaQR was launched on 12 February 2024 by NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) together with Central Bank of Sri Lanka–owned LankaPay, and was extended in May 2024 when PhonePe went live as a participating Indian app [1][3][4]. The corpus documents LankaQR as Sri Lanka's national QR standard (launched 2019, operated by LankaClear/LankaPay under CBSL) and records UPI integration for Indian tourists in 2024 [[../countries/LK-sri-lanka.md]].

History

UPI services were rolled out in Sri Lanka (and Mauritius) on 12 February 2024 in a virtual ceremony attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth [4]. On the Indian side NIPL partnered with LankaPay — the national payment network owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka — to provide the tourist payment service [4]. The scheme aimed to scale quickly, with about 10,000 merchants expected to accept UPI within weeks of launch and 65,000 projected by the end of March 2024 [4].

On 15 May 2024, PhonePe announced a collaboration with LankaPay to accept UPI payments at LankaQR merchant points, launched at an event at ITC Ratnadipa, Colombo [1][2]. PhonePe's international payments effort was led by Ritesh Pai (CEO, International Payments) and LankaPay by Channa de Silva (CEO), with backing from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and India's High Commission [1].

Technical specification

Linkage model. This is a merchant-QR acceptance linkage: an Indian UPI user scans a LankaQR code at a Sri Lankan merchant to pay [1]. The connection is facilitated through LankaPay's partnership with NIPL, which manages international UPI expansion [1].

QR interoperability. UPI apps are made interoperable with the LankaQR national QR network so UPI users can transact against LankaQR merchant codes [1]. LankaQR is documented in the corpus as Sri Lanka's unified QR standard [[../countries/LK-sri-lanka.md]].

FX handling. The Indian user's account is debited in INR, with the exchange rate displayed at the time of payment, so the traveller pays without manually calculating currency conversions [1].

Coverage. At the PhonePe launch, the LankaQR network spanned approximately 400,000 merchants with 19 local banks and finance companies participating [1]. The corpus cites 350,000+ merchant points for UPI acceptance [[../countries/LK-sri-lanka.md]].

Use cases

• Tourist merchant payments (inbound to Sri Lanka). The core use is Indian tourists paying Sri Lankan merchants by scanning LankaQR, debited in INR with no cash or manual currency conversion [1][4].
• Diaspora and travel convenience. It gives Indian travellers a familiar, secure payment method abroad and offers Sri Lankan merchants a cost-effective alternative to card acceptance [1].

Implementations

The Indian side runs through NIPL and participating Indian UPI apps, notably PhonePe (live from 15 May 2024) [1][3]. The Sri Lankan side is LankaPay / the LankaQR merchant network, operated under the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, with 19 local banks and finance companies participating [1][[../countries/LK-sri-lanka.md]]. The first LankaQR app in the market was ComBank Q+ [[../countries/LK-sri-lanka.md]].

Comparison

UPI-LankaQR uses the merchant-QR acceptance model — Indian travellers scan a foreign national QR to pay merchants — the same pattern later used for UPI-KHQR (Cambodia), and unlike the two-way account-to-account remittance model of UPI-PayNow (India–Singapore) [1][4]. It is implemented partly through a private app partnership (PhonePe–LankaPay) layered on the NIPL–LankaPay arrangement, rather than a pure central-bank-to-central-bank rail link [1]. The Sri Lanka rollout was bundled with the simultaneous Mauritius launch, where India also extended RuPay card issuance — a card-network angle absent from the LankaQR side [4]. It is far narrower than the UPI-TIPS euro-area settlement initiative and is a bilateral arrangement rather than a Nexus Global Payments membership [4].

Fun facts

• The Sri Lanka go-live was a double launch with Mauritius on the same day (12 February 2024), following UPI's earlier expansion to France [4].
• The merchant target was aggressive: from roughly 10,000 merchants within weeks to 65,000 by end of March 2024 [4].

Status

Live since 12 February 2024, with PhonePe acceptance added 15 May 2024 [1][3][4]. The corpus records UPI as integrated for Indian tourists at LankaQR merchants and notes a planned 2025 LankaQR relaunch/expansion [[../countries/LK-sri-lanka.md]].

Sources

1 PhonePe collaborates with LankaPay to promote UPI payment acceptance in Sri Lanka — PhonePe, 2024 2 Launch of PhonePe UPI acceptance — LankaPay, 2024 3 India's PhonePe UPI launched in Sri Lanka — ANI, 2024 4 Indian tourists can now make UPI payments in Sri Lanka — The Week / PTI, 2024

Deployments

No country reports mention this standard by name.

Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country

• India–Sri Lanka