Cambodia connects India’s UPI payments to the KHQR network

Phase one gives Indian UPI users access to KHQR merchants

The National Bank of Cambodia and the Reserve Bank of India said the service covers more than 4.5 million KHQR-enabled merchants. An eligible Indian traveller can scan the Cambodian merchant’s KHQR and make a person-to-merchant payment through a UPI-enabled application rather than relying only on cash or cards.

That does not mean every Indian banking or payment app will work for every customer abroad. The launch notices describe UPI-enabled applications but do not provide a universal list guaranteeing support across all banks, apps and accounts, so travellers still need to check the international payment functionality available to them.

For practical context, see Cambodia economy and finance. This development also connects with Cambodia and Bhutan Sign Cross-Border Payments MoU.

The Cambodia-to-India leg has not gone live yet

The project is intended to become a two-way payment corridor. RBI’s June announcement said the second phase would subsequently allow Cambodian travellers to make merchant payments in India by scanning UPI QR codes with Cambodian payment applications.

A later official update shows that the reciprocal leg was still a future step. At the India-Cambodia Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment on 24 August, both sides welcomed the successful June launch in Cambodia and discussed the next phase for Cambodian apps in India rather than announcing that it was already operational.

**What the change means on the ground**

For an Indian visitor, the practical gain is an additional way to pay at Cambodian businesses already connected to the KHQR network. It can reduce the need to depend entirely on cash or a physical card for routine purchases, provided the traveller’s own UPI setup supports the transaction.

For Cambodian merchants, the linkage is built around the existing KHQR infrastructure rather than a separate India-only code. The headline reach is large, but users should still distinguish network coverage from guaranteed acceptance in every individual transaction: the merchant, app and account all need to participate in the supported payment path.