8B and PayU have announced a strategic partnership to enable UPI and India-specific digital payment methods across Central Asia, marking a significant step towards building interoperable, API-driven cross-border payment infrastructure.
At the heart of this collaboration is a deep API integration layer, where PayU’s payment stack is embedded into 8B’s merchant network spanning Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and neighbouring markets. This enables Indian consumers to seamlessly transact using familiar payment methods—including UPI, net banking, and debit or credit cards—without requiring any additional onboarding or changes to merchant infrastructure.
The integration effectively introduces UPI as a new payment rail within existing merchant systems, allowing transactions to flow through current checkout processes. By eliminating the need for new hardware or parallel payment setups, the solution ensures rapid scalability and frictionless adoption across Central Asian merchants.
Beyond UPI, the platform also supports Indian card networks such as RuPay, alongside net banking, creating a multi-rail, interoperable payments ecosystem tailored to Indian travellers’ digital habits. Regulatory compliance is ensured through local partnerships such as Zesta LLP in Kazakhstan, enabling secure and compliant transaction processing within the region.
This partnership addresses a critical infrastructure gap in the rapidly expanding India–Central Asia corridor. While outbound tourism from India continues to grow significantly, payment systems have lagged behind, often forcing users to navigate unfamiliar payment methods. By aligning payment experiences with domestic behaviours, the collaboration enhances transaction success rates and improves conversion for merchants.
From a technology standpoint, the initiative represents the creation of a cross-border digital payments bridge, connecting India’s real-time payments ecosystem with Central Asia’s merchant infrastructure. This enables real-time, low-friction transactions and supports broader use cases beyond tourism, including digital commerce, services, and trade flows.
Industry leaders highlighted the strategic importance of this integration. Bogdan Zadorozhnyi noted that aligning payment infrastructure with user behaviour is key to unlocking seamless cross-border commerce, while Nikhil Mehta emphasised that the partnership removes payment friction and lays the foundation for future digital economic connectivity between the two regions.
As Central Asia emerges as a fast-growing tourism and trade destination, the collaboration signals a broader shift towards API-first, interoperable financial ecosystems, where national payment systems can extend beyond borders. By connecting India’s digital payments infrastructure with international markets, 8B and PayU are enabling a new phase of cross-border fintech innovation, one that transforms how consumers transact globally while empowering merchants with greater access to high-growth markets.