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On June 2, 2026, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched connectivity between India's payment systems and Cambodia's fast payment infrastructure to enable cross-border merchant payments. The initiative allows Indian travellers visiting Cambodia to make QR code-based payments at merchants accepting KHQR (Cambodia's national QR standard) using their Unified Payments Interface (UPI) applications. The connectivity represents the first phase of collaboration between NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and Acleda Bank Plc., operating under the aegis of the RBI and Cambodia's National Bank of Cambodia. The go-live enables interoperability of QR-code based Person to Merchant (P2M) transactions between the two countries. Indian travellers can now access real-time physical merchant payments across more than 4.5 million KHQR-enabled merchants in Cambodia in a transparent and secure manner. The facility reduces dependency on cash and provides an alternative to card-based payments. The RBI has been actively pursuing interlinking of the UPI with fast payment systems across other jurisdictions to promote cross-border payments. These efforts align with the Group of Twenty (G20) Roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments, which prioritises cheaper, efficient, more transparent, and more accessible payment solutions. The second phase of the collaboration will subsequently enable Cambodian travellers to make UPI QR-enabled merchant payments in India. This bilateral expansion will further strengthen payment interoperability between the two nations and support the broader objective of facilitating seamless cross-border transactions in the region.