UPI goes global: Eiffel Tower becomes first merchant in France to accept Indian payment system

In a landmark development, the Eiffel Tower, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, has become the first merchant in France to accept India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service. Also Read: New UPI Rules Roll Out Today: Here's What You Can And Can't Do Now On Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe

Modi hailed the launch of UPI at the Eiffel Tower as a “wonderful example of encouraging digital payments and fostering stronger ties”. In a post on social media platform X, he said: “Great to see this- it marks a significant step towards taking UPI global. This is a wonderful example of encouraging digital payments and fostering stronger ties.” Also Read: New UPI Rules From August 1: Daily Limits, Fixed AutoPay Timings And More - All That's Changing

NPCI’s international arm, NPCI International Payments (NIPL), has partnered with Lyra, a French company that provides e-commerce and proximity payments solutions, to enable UPI acceptance in France. The Eiffel Tower is the first merchant to offer UPI payments to Indian tourists, who can now scan a QR code on the merchant’s website and initiate a payment in Indian rupees. NIPL and Lyra plan to expand the UPI service to other merchants in the tourism and retail sectors across France and Europe in the coming months. Also Read: UPI Payments Now 2X Faster With PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, More: Here’s How

UPI is an instant payment system that allows users to link multiple bank accounts to a single mobile app and make seamless transactions. It was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016 and has since become one of the most popular modes of payment in India.

Meanwhile, in 2023, the number of transactions made through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) exceeded 100 billion, with the precise count nearing 118 billion. This represented a growth of 60 percent in comparison to the 74 billion transactions recorded in 2022.

The total value of UPI transactions in 2023 was approximately Rs 182 lakh crore, marking a 44 percent increase from the Rs 126 lakh crore observed in 2022. In December alone, UPI transactions surpassed the 10 billion threshold, reaching an exact figure of 12 billion. The transaction value for this month was Rs 18.23 lakh crore.

According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the daily UPI transactions in December exceeded 387 million.