PayPal Partners UPI, Others To Facilitate Cross Border Payments

US-based online payment gateway PayPal has partnered with the international arm of National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), among others, to build a global digital payment platform called PayPal World.

PayPal said in a statement that the platform will strengthen digital payments across borders by connecting payment systems and digital wallets across the world. The platform will also leverage AI agents for users to interact and pay via their digital wallets.

The US-based company has partnered with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), Latin America’s Mercado Pago, China’s Tenpay Global and its own mobile payment system Venmo.

Using PayPal World, users will be able to pay international business or send money overseas by using their native payment system, the statement added.

“PayPal World is a first-of-its-kind payments ecosystem that will bring together many of the world’s largest payment systems and digital wallets on a single platform. It is testament to the passion our partners share for an inclusive, global digital economy and has the potential to revolutionize cross-border commerce,” said PayPal president and CEO Alex Chriss.

Notably, PayPal Holdings Inc’s Indian subsidiary PayPal Payments Private Limited recently received RBI’s approval to operate as a payment aggregator for cross-border exports (PA-CB-E).

How Will PayPal World Work?

PayPal World is likely to launch in the last quarter of the calendar year 2025, with all partners interoperable with PayPal and Venmo.

While the platform already finalised the initial set of wallets to be linked including UPI, Tenpay Global, Mercado Pago, PayPal, and Venmo, it can add more partner wallets in the future on the back of its digital infrastructure.

The platform will facilitate cross-border transactions by integrating global payment systems and leveraging agentic AI to ease consumer experience. PayPal World will enable users to shop from international brands, transfer money overseas and spend while travelling abroad through its platform. 

“This will expand the reach of PayPal’s two-sided network, driving more demand for merchants and offering consumers more choice and flexibility,” the statement added.

UPI’s Cross Border Network

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is not just changing the country’s digital payment landscape but also helping other countries to ride this wave.

Last year, RBI launched Project Nexus in partnership with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and central banks from four ASEAN nations including Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to facilitate instant cross-border retail payments via UPI integration.

Later, NPCI engaged in discussions with countries in Africa and South America to help them build digital payment systems akin to UPI.

Besides, the central bank is also putting in efforts to ease the process of UPI reaching abroad. In March, RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said that RBI plans to continue expanding the reach of UPI “bilaterally” by linking the payments infrastructure with fast payment systems of other nations. 

During the same time, India also urged money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to relax compliance mandates for cross-border payments via UPI.

UPI transaction count saw a marginal dip to 18.40 Bn in June from an all-time high of 18.68 Bn in the previous month. On a year-on-year basis, the transactions count jumped 32%.