Thailand and India Team Up for Cross-Border QR Payments: A Game-Changing Move

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is gearing up to launch a new system allowing QR code payments between Thailand and India by the third quarter of this year. This initiative aims to create a broader network for multinational payments across Asia.

Daranee Saeju, the Assistant Governor for Payment Systems Policy and Financial Consumer Protection Group at the central bank, shared that the connection with India is progressing well and is expected to be operational by the third quarter. This development is a result of collaborative efforts with countries beyond the ASEAN group.

The BoT has already established QR code cross-border payment links with several countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan. These international transactions are facilitated through PromptPay, Thailand's national electronic payment platform launched in 2016.

In the case of Singapore, the cross-border payment connections involve QR code payments and remittance services. Daranee mentioned that future phases will expand to include money transfers across regions through multinational connections, improving payment system efficiency.

The cross-border remittance program, initially launched with Singapore, is slated to expand to other regional countries, according to Daranee.

PromptPay, with 77.6 million registered users, is expected to set new transaction records this year, building on its growth since 2016, particularly during the pandemic. Cash transactions have decreased, accounting for about 66% of total banking transactions.

In December of last year, PromptPay saw a record of 75.9 million financial transactions per day, with an average daily money transfer of 54.5 million, totaling 130 billion baht, according to the Bank of Thailand’s Payment Insight report.