# UPI-Qatar

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upi-qatar
> research date 2026-06-04 · extracted at 2026-10-07
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [Qatar now accepts UPI payments, Qatar Duty Free becomes first merchant — Travel Trade Journal](https://traveltradejournal.com/qatar-now-accepts-upi-payments-qatar-duty-free-becomes-first-merchant/)
- [NPCI enables UPI acceptance across Qatar in tie-up with Qatar National Bank — The Hans India](https://www.thehansindia.com/amp/business/npci-enables-upi-acceptance-across-qatar-in-tie-up-with-qatar-national-bank-1009476)

## Overview

The **UPI-Qatar Linkage** is a cross-border merchant-acceptance arrangement enabling Indian travellers to pay merchants in Qatar with their Unified Payments Interface (UPI) apps. It is operated by **NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL)** in partnership with **Qatar National Bank (QNB)** — the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa — which became the **first bank in Qatar** to enable UPI acceptance for the merchants it acquires <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>. The model is **QR-code-based person-to-merchant (P2M)** acceptance across QNB's merchant ecosystem, technically powered by the Japanese payment gateway provider **NETSTARS** <sup>[1][1]</sup>. Within the corpus, Qatar's national report documents QNB's dominance and the Qatar Mobile Payment (QMP) national system <sup>[Qatar report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/QA)</sup>, while India's report documents UPI as the dominant NPCI-operated retail rail <sup>[India report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IN)</sup>.

## History

The partnership between **NIPL and QNB** was announced on **25 February 2025**, making QNB the first bank in Qatar to enable QR-based UPI acceptance for its acquired merchants <sup>[2][2]</sup>. The corridor went live in commercial use in **September 2025**, with **Qatar Duty Free** at Hamad International Airport becoming the **first live merchant** to accept UPI <sup>[1][1]</sup>. NIPL CEO Ritesh Shukla cast the deal within NIPL's aim to enhance UPI acceptance globally and create a truly interoperable global payment network <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Technical specification

**Linkage model.** A one-directional **merchant-acceptance** linkage. An Indian traveller uses a UPI app to make **QR-code-based P2M** payments at merchants acquired by QNB; the acceptance is delivered through point-of-sale terminals powered by **NETSTARS'** payment solution <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

**Direction supported.** **Outbound from India only** — Indian UPI users pay Qatari (QNB-acquired) merchants. This is a tourist-acceptance corridor, not a bidirectional account-to-account remittance linkage <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>.

**Coverage.** Acceptance is intended to span the **QNB payment ecosystem**, including the airport, hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, and retail outlets <sup>[2][2]</sup>.

**Currency / limits.** FX mechanics and per-transaction caps were not specified in the fetched sources <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>.

**Inbound RuPay issuance.** Not applicable — the Qatar corridor is pure UPI acceptance through QNB-acquired merchants and does not include local RuPay card issuance <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>.

## Use cases

- **Tourist merchant payments.** Indians are the **second-largest group of international visitors to Qatar**, and the corridor lets them transact in real time across QNB-acquired merchants — airport, hotels, attractions, restaurants, and retail — without carrying cash or relying on currency exchange <sup>[2][2]</sup>.
- **Airport retail.** The launch use case is duty-free shopping at Qatar Duty Free, Hamad International Airport <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- **Merchant volume growth.** QNB expects the service to lift transaction volumes for its acquired merchants and support Qatar's retail and tourism sectors <sup>[2][2]</sup>.

## Implementations

The Indian side uses standard UPI apps. The Qatari side is enabled by **QNB** as acquirer, with **NETSTARS** providing the underlying payment gateway/POS solution <sup>[1][1]</sup>. The first live merchant is **Qatar Duty Free** at Hamad International Airport, with planned extension across the QNB merchant network <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>. QNB is described as the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa, giving the corridor broad domestic acquiring reach <sup>[2][2]</sup><sup>[Qatar report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/QA)</sup>.

## Comparison

UPI-Qatar 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 is structurally closest to the **Nepal** and **France** corridors — unidirectional, P2M-QR, no RuPay issuance — and unlike the bidirectional, RuPay-issuing **Mauritius** linkage. A distinguishing feature is that acceptance rides on a **single commercial acquirer (QNB)** plus a third-party gateway (NETSTARS), rather than a national payment network like Nepal's Fonepay or a national QR scheme; coverage is therefore bounded by QNB's merchant base. Against the multilateral **[Nexus (Project Nexus)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/nexus)** hub, Qatar is a standalone bilateral acceptance arrangement and does not settle through a shared instant-payment switch; Qatar's own national instant rail is the separate QMP system <sup>[Qatar report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/QA)</sup>.

## Fun facts

- The first live UPI merchant in Qatar was **Qatar Duty Free** at Hamad International Airport <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- The corridor's acceptance technology is supplied by a **Japanese** gateway provider, NETSTARS, illustrating the multi-country supply chain behind UPI's international acceptance <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Status

**Live (early).** The NIPL-QNB partnership was announced on 25 February 2025 and the first merchant (Qatar Duty Free) went live in September 2025, with rollout across the QNB merchant ecosystem in progress <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>. Specific corridor transaction volumes were not disclosed in the fetched sources <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Sources

[1] [Qatar now accepts UPI payments, Qatar Duty Free becomes first merchant](https://traveltradejournal.com/qatar-now-accepts-upi-payments-qatar-duty-free-becomes-first-merchant/) — Travel Trade Journal, 2025
[2] [NPCI enables UPI acceptance across Qatar in tie-up with Qatar National Bank](https://www.thehansindia.com/amp/business/npci-enables-upi-acceptance-across-qatar-in-tie-up-with-qatar-national-bank-1009476) — The Hans India, 2025

[1]: https://traveltradejournal.com/qatar-now-accepts-upi-payments-qatar-duty-free-becomes-first-merchant/
[2]: https://www.thehansindia.com/amp/business/npci-enables-upi-acceptance-across-qatar-in-tie-up-with-qatar-national-bank-1009476

## Deployments

_No country reports mention this standard by name._

## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country

- India–Qatar