Sitharaman Hits Back: UPI Now in 11 Countries
Synopsis
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Rajya Sabha that UPI — once mocked by a former Finance Minister — now operates across 11 countries, framing the milestone as a rebuttal to early sceptics of India's digital payments ambition.
Key Takeaways
Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2026 that UPI is now available in 11 countries .
She recalled that a former Finance Minister and allies had mocked UPI at its launch, questioning India's ability to make it work.
UPI was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in April 2016 .
India's cross-border UPI linkages began with Nepal and Bhutan and have expanded through successive bilateral agreements.
The remarks came during a parliamentary exchange on the performance of India's digital payment systems.
What was once mocked is now a global benchmark. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, August 10, 2026, reminded the House that a former Finance Minister and his allies had ridiculed the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) at its launch — questioning whether India could even make it work.
Sitharaman's statement was pointed: 'We were also reminded of a former Finance Minister of India and his allies making fun of UPI when it was introduced initially, questioning our ability to make it successful.' The punchline landed hard — UPI is today operational across 11 countries.
From a 2016 launch to a global payments network
UPI was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in April 2016 — at the time, a bold bet on mobile-first, real-time interbank transfers for a country where cash was still king. The scepticism Sitharaman referenced was not fringe: the idea that India could build and scale a homegrown real-time payments rail faced genuine institutional doubt in its early years.
That doubt is now a historical footnote. India's digital payments architecture — built on the trinity of Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar-linked direct benefit transfers, and UPI — has become one of the most cited examples of digital public infrastructure anywhere in the world. Cross-border UPI linkages began with Nepal and Bhutan, and successive bilateral agreements have extended the network's reach steadily since.
A parliamentary moment with a political edge
Sitharaman's remarks came during what the post describes as a broader parliamentary exchange on digital payment performance — but the framing was unmistakably combative. By invoking the unnamed former Finance Minister's early ridicule, she drew a direct line between past scepticism and present scale. The subtext: the critics were wrong, and the numbers prove it.
The remark also fits a larger pattern. India has consistently positioned UPI as sovereign infrastructure — not a product of any one government, but a national capability. Framing it that way in Parliament sharpens the contrast with those who doubted it, regardless of party.
The next question the House — and the markets — will be watching: which countries join the UPI network next, and when cross-border UPI transactions move from diplomatic agreements to everyday retail scale.
Point of View
The statement reflects how UPI has shifted from a policy experiment to a geopolitical asset — a piece of sovereign infrastructure that India now exports through bilateral agreements. The 'what to watch' question is whether parliamentary momentum translates into a formal roadmap for the next wave of UPI country linkages.
NationPress
10 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
In how many countries is UPI available in 2026?
According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement in Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2026, UPI is available across 11 countries.
When was UPI launched in India?
UPI was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in April 2016.
Which countries were the first to get cross-border UPI access?
Nepal and Bhutan were among the earliest countries to receive cross-border UPI linkages as part of India's bilateral digital payments agreements.
What did Nirmala Sitharaman say about UPI in Parliament?
Sitharaman reminded Rajya Sabha that a former Finance Minister and his allies had mocked UPI at its launch, questioning India's ability to make it work — and contrasted that with UPI's current presence in 11 countries.
What is NPCI and what is its role in UPI?
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is the umbrella organisation that created and operates UPI, India's real-time mobile-based interbank payment system.
