Author: Aditya Pareek | EQMint | Press Release
National, 14 October 2025: NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NTT DATA Japan, a core subsidiary of the NTT DATA Group and a leading provider of IT and business services headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The MoU establishes the foundation for a strategic alliance, marking a significant step towards Unified Payments Interface (UPI) acceptance in the Japanese market to enhance payment experience for Indian tourists.
NTT DATA Japan is a leading player in the payments ecosystem and operates CAFIS®, Japan’s largest card payment processing network. CAFIS® connects a wide range of acquirers, issuers, merchants, and ATM operators across the country, providing the backbone for Japan’s payment infrastructure. Through this collaboration, NIPL and NTT DATA Japan will jointly assess and work towards facilitating UPI acceptance across NTT DATA-acquired merchant locations throughout Japan. UPI integration will allow merchants in Japan to offer faster checkouts, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive business growth.
Between January and August 2025 alone, over 208,000 Indian visitors travelled to Japan, a 36% increase compared to the same period in 2024 (152,947 visitors*), highlighting the rapidly growing importance of this corridor. Following the introduction of UPI in the Japanese market, Indian tourists will be able to make seamless payments at merchant locations acquired by NTT DATA by scanning QR codes using their familiar UPI applications.
Ritesh Shukla, MD & CEO of NPCI International, said, “The MoU with NTT DATA lays the foundation for enabling UPI acceptance in Japan. This partnership is an important step toward improving the digital payment experience for Indian travellers and simplifying cross- border payments. It also reflects our ambition to take UPI to more international markets and establish it as one of the most trusted digital payment systems globally.”
“This collaboration marks an important milestone as we expand payment choices for inbound travellers from India,” said Masanori Kurihara, Head of Payments in Japan, NTT DATA. “By initiating the partnership for UPI acceptance in Japan, we aim to make shopping and payments more convenient for Indian tourists, while helping Japanese merchants capture new opportunities.”
This MoU underscores NIPL’s commitment to promoting secure cross-border payments and building a more inclusive global payment ecosystem through UPI.
About NPCI International:
NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) was incorporated on April 3, 2020, as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). As NPCI’s international arm, NIPL is devoted to deploying NPCI’s indigenous, successful real-time payment system—Unified Payments Interface (UPI)—and card scheme (RuPay) outside of India. NPCI has successfully developed and proved its products and technological capabilities in the domestic market by transforming the payment segment in India.
Currently, there are several countries that seek to establish a real-time payment system or a domestic card scheme. NIPL, with its knowledge and experience, can offer these countries technological assistance through licensing and consulting for building real-time payment systems to meet the rapidly evolving needs of fast-growing global businesses. NIPL focuses on transforming payments across the globe through technology and innovation. It will not only enable payments for Indians but also support other countries by enhancing their payment capabilities using technological assistance, consulting, and infrastructure.
For more information visit, NIPL.
About NTT DATA
NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services.
Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 50 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.
Visit us at NTT DATA.
Disclaimer: This article is based on information available from public sources. It has not been reported by EQMint journalists. EQMint has compiled and presented the content for informational purposes only and does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Readers are advised to verify details independently before relying on them.
