European Central Bank Advances Plans to Connect TIPS with India's UPI and Nexus Global Payments

The European Central Bank's Governing Council has authorised the Eurosystem to move into the realisation phase for connecting its TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service with India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI), marking a significant step toward faster, cheaper cross-border payments between Europe and Asia.

The decision follows positive findings from earlier exploratory work with Indian and Asian payment systems. The ECB will now focus on detailed design, legal arrangements and technical build-out for the TIPS-UPI link, with completion expected by the end of 2026.

UPI processes one of the largest instant payment transaction volumes in the world, and India ranks among the top ten sources of euro area remittances, making the corridor a strategic priority for both regions.

Alongside the UPI work, the ECB confirmed it will continue assessing the feasibility of linking TIPS with Nexus Global Payments (NGP), a multilateral scheme launched in March 2025 that initially connects the fast payment rails of Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and India. The long-term plan is to extend these corridors further, with Swiss Interbank Clearing also under consideration following feasibility studies launched in September 2025.

The initiative is part of the Eurosystem's broader retail payments strategy and aligns with the G20 roadmap for faster, cheaper, more transparent and inclusive cross-border payments. The ECB has said the work also supports the international role of the euro by expanding its reach into high-volume payment corridors across Asia.