Indonesia to expand QR code payments to India, Saudi Arabia

Indonesia’s central bank plans to connect its QRIS digital payment system with India and Saudi Arabia, expanding its international reach.

Currently, QRIS is used in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Japan.

Bank Indonesia governor Perry Warjiyo announced that the system will soon be live in China and South Korea, with connections to Saudi Arabia and India in progress.

Perry said that QRIS has processed transactions worth 1.8 quadrillion rupiah and is standardized through the National Open API (SNAP) to unify interbank systems.

The system aims to facilitate 24/7 fast payments, reducing reliance on traditional clearing systems.

Over 30 banks in Indonesia offer digital banking services integrated with QRIS and other digital payment platforms.

The move aims to strengthen Indonesia’s digital payment infrastructure and enhance cross-border transactions.

🔗 Source: Tempo.co

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

This expansion follows a plan to use fewer US dollars

The rollout fits a wider effort to use fewer US dollars in regional trade, tourism, and other payments 1.
The network supports bilateral Local Currency Transactions (LCT), which helps macroeconomic stability by settling payments in partner currencies 2.
A shopper from Indonesia can scan a QR code in Singapore through a home banking app. The account pays in rupiah, while the merchant receives Singapore dollars 3.
Interoperability uses the international EMVCo QR standard (a widely used global specification for QR-code payments). The same framework is used by partners such as India or Thailand, which can ease technical setup 2.

QRIS adds cross-border payment routes beyond card networks

Direct links between national payment systems give Indonesia and partners a way to process retail payments without leaning on traditional card networks like Visa or Mastercard 2.
Central banks run this model, which gives them more say over cross-border links under Bank Indonesia’s payment-system blueprint 4.
The National Open API (SNAP) standard sets a shared Open API framework for payments. It supports interoperability plus integration across providers 5.
With shared infrastructure in place, firms can compete on services rather than owning the payment routes 4.