India Integrates UPI with UPU to Simplify Global Money Transfers

India has launched a new initiative that connects the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) to boost cross-border payments.

The announcement comes from Union Minister for Communications, Jyotiraditya Scindia, at the 28th Universal Postal Congress in Dubai. He says it's a move aimed at reshaping the way families send money across borders.

The minister also outlined a four-pillar vision for India's postal sector – expanding data-driven logistics, widening access to affordable finance, modernising through tools like AI and deepening global cooperation with a new UPU technical cell.

Citing India's scale, Scindia pointed to 56 crore accounts opened under Aadhaar, Jan Dhan and India Post payments bank, including the delivery of over 90 crore parcels by India Post last year.

To support this, India is committing around Rs 86 crores to boost postal projects and has pitched for seats on both the UPU Council of Administration and Postal Operations Council.

Adding to that, Scindia said, "India comes not with proposals, but with partnership," highlighting the need for interoperable systems to make global transactions and commerce more effortless and seamless.

India comes not with proposals, but with partnership. We believe in resilience, in interoperable solutions that prevent fragmentation, and in trust—linking payments, identity, addressing, and logistics to make global commerce seamless. India comes not with proposals, but with partnership. We believe in resilience, in interoperable solutions that prevent fragmentation, and in trust—linking payments, identity, addressing, and logistics to make global commerce seamless.

— Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Communications of India

Preceding the UPI-UPU integration, UPI's parent firm NPCI announced increased transaction limits of up to Rs 5 Lakhs. While it's not directly linked to the UPU integrations, it's a part of the same broader push to make UPI a trusted and scalable payments system worldwide.