PhonePe - Lankapay’s partnership to help fetch US$ 1.1 bn from Indian tourists

The partnership between India’s PhonePe and  Lankapay enabling Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments in Sri Lanka is set to earn US$1.1 billion from Indian tourists this year.

PhonePe, one of India’s leading fintech players on Wednesday partnered with Lanka’s National Payment Network LankaPay to accept India’s UPI payments at LankaQR merchant points. 

PhonePe app users travelling to Sri Lanka are able to make payments using UPI across LankaPayQR merchants nationwide. Their account will be debited in INR, showing the currency exchange rate. These transactions are facilitated by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and LankaPay National Payment Network.

PhonePe has over 535 million registered users in India while LANKAQR had 388,257 merchants at the end of 2023.  “We are thrilled to announce our partnership with LankaPay. This collaboration offers unparalleled convenience to Indian tourists who can now use a familiar and secure payment method while traveling and pay across LankaQR merchant points,” PhonePe International Payments CEO Ritesh Pai said.

In 2024, Sri Lanka targets to attract 600,000 travellers from India , expecting US$ 1.1 billion in earnings. 

Pai noted that the partnership would enable Sri Lanka to meet this target this year.

Moreover, he highlighted that India would be among top three outbound tourism markets with a projected US$ 410 billion travel expenditure per annum by the end of this decade.  

Sri Lanka is the fourth most popular destination among Indian solo travellers at the present. 

Further, PhonePe also plans to expand in Sri Lanka with their partnership with Lankapay.