# UPI-France > Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upi-france > research date 2026-06-04 · extracted at 2026-10-07 > Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards Specifications: - [UPI now in France: Indian tourists can buy tickets for Eiffel Tower via UPI — Business Today](https://www.businesstoday.in/personal-finance/story/upi-now-in-france-indian-tourists-can-buy-tickets-for-eiffel-tower-via-upi-415960-2024-02-02) - [UPI became live at Galeries Lafayette, Haussmann, Paris — Embassy of India, Paris](https://www.eoiparis.gov.in/section/press-releases/unified-payments-interface-upi-became-live-at-the-flagship-store-of-the-world-renowned-galeries-lafayette-in-haussmann-paris/) ## Overview The **UPI-France Linkage** is a cross-border merchant-acceptance arrangement that enables Indian travellers to pay French merchants using their Unified Payments Interface (UPI) apps. It is operated by **NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL)** in partnership with **Lyra**, a French specialist in securing e-commerce and proximity payments [1][1][3][3]. The connection made **France the first European country to accept UPI** [1][1]. The launch debuted on an **e-commerce** model: the **Eiffel Tower** became the first merchant, letting Indian visitors book entry tickets online and pay in rupees [1][1]. Acceptance later widened to physical retail, with UPI going live at the flagship **Galeries Lafayette** department store on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris [2][2]. Within the corpus, France's national report focuses on the domestic Wero/European Payments Initiative landscape under Banque de France oversight [France report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/FR), while India's report documents UPI as the dominant NPCI-operated retail rail [India report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IN). ## History The acceptance of UPI in France was announced by **NIPL and Lyra** and formally launched in **Paris on 2 February 2024** at an event organised by the Embassy of India to mark India's Republic Day, with the Eiffel Tower as the first merchant [1][1]. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier signalled, during his France visit, that UPI roll-out would begin at the Eiffel Tower [1][1]. NIPL CEO Ritesh Shukla framed it within NIPL's ambition to enable acceptance of NPCI's payment solutions in international markets, and Lyra's commercial director called it a major advancement for European tourism [1][1]. Acceptance then expanded: on **3 July 2024**, UPI went live at the flagship **Galeries Lafayette** store in Haussmann, Paris — timed ahead of the **Paris 2024 Olympic Games** and their expected large inflow of Indian visitors [2][2]. France's national report separately records a France launch milestone dated 14 October 2024 in its domestic-payments timeline [France report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/FR). ## Technical specification **Linkage model.** A one-directional **merchant-acceptance** linkage. The initial deployment was **e-commerce/online**: Indian users pay with UPI when booking Eiffel Tower tickets online, rather than scanning an in-store QR [1][1]. The Galeries Lafayette expansion extended UPI into a physical retail store as well [2][2]. Lyra, which secures both e-commerce and proximity (in-store) payments, provides the French acquiring/gateway side [1][1][3][3]. **Direction supported.** **Outbound from India only** — Indian UPI users pay French merchants. There is no reciprocal French-to-India capability; this is a tourist acceptance corridor, not an account-to-account remittance linkage [1][1]. **Currency.** The model lets Indian visitors transact in rupees abroad through UPI; the fetched sources did not specify FX mechanics or per-transaction limits [1][1]. **Inbound RuPay issuance.** Not applicable — unlike the Mauritius linkage, the France corridor does not include local issuance of RuPay cards; it is purely UPI acceptance [1][1][2][2]. ## Use cases - **Tourist attraction ticketing.** The launch use case is online booking of Eiffel Tower tickets by Indian visitors, who rank among the largest groups of international tourists at the monument [1][1]. - **Retail.** In-store payment at the flagship Galeries Lafayette and, prospectively, other tourism and retail merchants such as hotels and museums [1][1][2][2]. - **Event-driven travel.** The Galeries Lafayette go-live was explicitly timed for the Indian-visitor surge around the Paris 2024 Olympics [2][2]. ## Implementations On the Indian side the corridor uses standard UPI apps; the French side is enabled by **Lyra**, which provides the acquiring and gateway infrastructure spanning e-commerce and proximity payments [1][1][3][3]. The first live merchants were the **Eiffel Tower** (online ticketing) and the **Galeries Lafayette** flagship on Boulevard Haussmann (in-store) [1][1][2][2]. Lyra publicly stated an intent to expand UPI acceptance more broadly across France and internationally in 2024, emphasising POS and switch solutions [3][3]. ## Comparison UPI-France is a **one-way tourist merchant-acceptance** corridor, contrasting with the **[UPI-PayNow](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upi-paynow)** template's bidirectional account-to-account remittance design [[1][1]][UPI-PayNow](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upi-paynow). It differs from the other three India corridors documented here in starting with an **e-commerce/online** acceptance point (Eiffel Tower ticketing) before adding in-store retail, whereas Nepal (Fonepay QR), Qatar (QNB merchant QR), and Mauritius (UPI QR) led with point-of-sale QR scanning. Like Nepal and Qatar it is unidirectional and includes no RuPay issuance, unlike the bidirectional, RuPay-issuing **Mauritius** linkage. Against the multilateral **[Nexus (Project Nexus)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/nexus)** hub, France is a standalone bilateral acceptance arrangement, not a connection through a shared instant-payment switch; France's own instant-payment ambitions sit within the European Wero/EPI ecosystem rather than any UPI hub [France report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/FR). ## Fun facts - France is the **first European country to accept UPI** [1][1]. - The corridor's debut merchant was the **Eiffel Tower**, and the formal launch took place at a Paris event for India's Republic Day [1][1]. - Lyra's symbolic first UPI-for-France transaction — an Eiffel Tower ticket purchase — was executed at Lyra's Mumbai office on the company's 16th anniversary, with the French Consul General participating [3][3]. ## Status **Live and expanding.** UPI acceptance launched at the Eiffel Tower on 2 February 2024 and reached the Galeries Lafayette flagship on 3 July 2024, with stated plans to extend to further tourism and retail merchants [1][1][2][2]. France's national report logs a related France launch milestone in October 2024 [France report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/FR). Specific transaction volumes for the corridor were not disclosed in the fetched sources [2][2]. ## Sources [1] [UPI now in France: Indian tourists can buy tickets for Eiffel Tower via UPI](https://www.businesstoday.in/personal-finance/story/upi-now-in-france-indian-tourists-can-buy-tickets-for-eiffel-tower-via-upi-415960-2024-02-02) — Business Today, 2024 [2] [UPI became live at the flagship store of Galeries Lafayette in Haussmann, Paris](https://www.eoiparis.gov.in/section/press-releases/unified-payments-interface-upi-became-live-at-the-flagship-store-of-the-world-renowned-galeries-lafayette-in-haussmann-paris/) — Embassy of India, Paris, 2024 [3] [Lyra Network revolutionizes global payments with UPI transactions in France](https://www.lyra.com/in/lyra-network-revolutionizes-global-payments-with-upi-transactions-in-france/) — Lyra Network, 2024 [1]: https://www.businesstoday.in/personal-finance/story/upi-now-in-france-indian-tourists-can-buy-tickets-for-eiffel-tower-via-upi-415960-2024-02-02 [2]: https://www.eoiparis.gov.in/section/press-releases/unified-payments-interface-upi-became-live-at-the-flagship-store-of-the-world-renowned-galeries-lafayette-in-haussmann-paris/ [3]: https://www.lyra.com/in/lyra-network-revolutionizes-global-payments-with-upi-transactions-in-france/ ## Deployments _No country reports mention this standard by name._ ## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country - India–France