From India to the World: UPI goes Global as Namibia Becomes First Foreign Country to Sign Licensing Agreement
The agreement was concluded during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Namibia.
India’s Unified Payments Interface ( UPI ) has made big leaps onto the global stage, with Namibia becoming the first foreign country to formally adopt the revolutionary digital payment technology. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 9, 2025, during his address to Namibia’s Parliament in Windhoek where he marked India’s ambitious push to globalize...
India’s Unified Payments Interface ( UPI ) has made big leaps onto the global stage, with Namibia becoming the first foreign country to formally adopt the revolutionary digital payment technology.
The announcement was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 9, 2025, during his address to Namibia’s Parliament in Windhoek where he marked India’s ambitious push to globalize its digital infrastructure.
The milestone collaboration comes following the signing of a licensing agreement in April 2024 between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Bank of Namibia. Under the agreement, Namibia is slated to roll out UPI as part of its national instant payments system, thereby enabling both person-to-person and merchant digital transactions with speed and convenience.
Tax Planning For Trusts and cooperation Societies - Click Here
Prime Minister Modi, in his address highlighted the transformative potential of the platform, even envisioning a future where even a grandmother in rural Kunene or a shopkeeper in Katutura could go digital with just a tap. "Soon, people will be able to send money faster than one can say 'Tangi Unene'," Modi remarked, drawing a rousing response from the Namibian parliament.
The partnership between NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and the Bank of Namibia which joined hands in 2024 in a bid to modernize the African nation’s financial sector, pushing for enhanced accessibility, affordability and scope for interoperability across all of the nation’s payment instruments.
Namibia’s central bank governor Johannes Gawaxab had previously emphasized that the objective of adopting UPI is to not only to foster financial inclusion and reduction of cash dependency, but to also ensure that a secure and efficient national payment system is deployed in Namibia.
Once live, the UPI-powered platform will facilitate real-time payments for individuals, businesses, and even government services, supporting the growth of digital entrepreneurship, drawing links between Namibia’s various economic sectors.
The announcement coincided with Prime Minister Modi’s landmark state visit to Namibia, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 27 years. During the course of the visit, both nations also signed several bilateral agreements to collaborate in fields such as entrepreneurship, health, and medicine.
Namibia also joined global Indian-led initiatives like the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Global Biofuels Alliance, symbolic of the growing strategic and economic partnership between the two countries.
Want a deeper insight into the Income Tax Bill, 2025? Click here
This move is indeed a big win for India’s fin-tech infrastructure. The UPI system, hailed for its ease of access across the Indian society’s various stratas is now taking its first steps towards a global journey, opening doors for other nations to follow.
Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates