In November 2024, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) widened UPI access to non-resident Indians (NRIs) holding NRE/NRO accounts, allowing them to transact in India using UPI linked to eligible international mobile numbers.

Media coverage at the time highlighted the “instant, no-fee” experience for everyday payments, with NPCI’s own pages explaining the onboarding flow for foreign numbers.

Building on this, AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB) now offers UPI for its NRE and NRO customers using international SIMs, with clearly published eligibility, onboarding steps, and transaction limits. NPCI also lists AU’s UPI app among live members supporting international-number linkage.

Notably, AU SFB has also received the RBI’s in-principle nod to become a universal bank, a context that underscores its digital ambitions.

Who can use it?

AU SFB enables UPI for NRI/PIO/OCI customers who

(i) maintain an NRE or NRO account with a participating Indian bank and
(ii) have their international mobile number registered with that account.

UPI apps that support international numbers can then be used to pay Indian merchants, bills, or individuals. NPCI’s live-members page confirms the list of supported countries and shows AU among the apps enabling such linkage.

How to register your international number for UPI in India?

Follow AU’s official flow:

Register your international number with your AU NRE/NRO account.
Install a UPI-enabled app that supports international numbers (e.g., BHIM AU, BHIM, major bank/TPAP apps).
Link your AU account and verify via SMS on your international SIM.
Set your UPI PIN and start transacting in India.

Before we move on, note that NPCI’s guidance also stresses that transactions are permitted as per your bank’s terms & conditions, so per-bank limits and app support can vary slightly.

What are the debit and credit limits for AU’s NRI UPI?

AU publishes platform-specific caps. On Android, for the first 24 hours after UPI registration, you can send up to ₹5,000 or 20 transactions per day (whichever comes first). After the cool-off period, the standard send (debit) limit is ₹1,00,000 per day, with ₹1,00,000 per transaction and up to 20 P2P transactions per 24 hours. On iOS, the initial cool-off lasts 72 hours, with the same ₹5,000/20-transactions daily cap during that window.

For credits (incoming), AU specifies ₹1,00,000 per transaction, up to ₹4,00,000 in 24 hours, with app-level caps of 50 receives (any value) or 25 receives over ₹2,000 in 24 hours. Always check your app’s in-app limits because TPAPs sometimes enforce additional throttles.

Which countries’ numbers can be linked?

NPCI and AU currently list 12 eligible countries. That makes the experience far broader than the early 10-country pilot and includes major diaspora corridors.

Here’s the quick reference. This table is handy if you’re checking whether your foreign SIM is supported; we’ll return to how this matters for adoption in a moment.

Sr. No.	Country	Country Code
1	Australia	+61
2	Canada	+1
3	France	+33
4	Hong Kong	+852
5	Malaysia	+60
6	Oman	+968
7	Qatar	+974
8	Saudi Arabia	+966
9	Singapore	+65
10	United Arab Emirates	+971
11	United Kingdom	+44
12	United States of America	+1

The 12-country coverage aligns with NPCI’s “UPI for NRIs” roster and is reflected on AU’s product page as well. If you’re outside this list, you can still use UPI in India by registering an Indian mobile number; cross-border acceptance of UPI at foreign merchants is a separate “UPI Global Acceptance” track.

How will this help the economy: GDP, reach, and broader impact?

Allowing NRE/NRO account holders with foreign SIMs to use UPI will make it easier for NRIs to spend while in India (on travel, healthcare, education, shopping) and to pay bills from abroad.

This reduces payment hassles, shifts more spending into digital channels, improves compliance, and cuts down on cash use. The impact shows up in measured household spending rather than adding a new source of GDP.

Two facts highlight the potential:

UPI is already massive, with 19.5 billion transactions in July 2025, so even small NRI adoption can add big volumes.
India is the world’s top remittance destination, and digital habits around UPI can support both remittances and local merchant digitisation.

In practice, this means:

Faster and easier spending by visiting NRIs,
Better cash flow for small businesses accepting UPI,
Stronger network effects for India’s digital payments system.

Over time, this could modestly boost services and retail activity and strengthen ties between Indian markets and diaspora communities.

Conclusion

AU SFB’s rollout of UPI for NRE/NRO customers with international numbers fits squarely into NPCI’s broader strategy for diaspora inclusion on UPI. Eligibility is straightforward (NRE/NRO + registered foreign number), onboarding is app-based, and the bank has clearly spelt out debit/credit caps—with short initial throttles for risk control—so users know what to expect from day one.

As coverage extends across 12 major corridors and UPI volumes keep climbing, the initiative should further formalise diaspora spending and simplify payments for families and businesses in India. AU’s own trajectory, now with RBI’s in-principle approval to become a universal bank, suggests more such digital enhancements ahead.

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