For many Indians, scanning a QR code to pay for a cup of chai or a packet of biscuits barely registers anymore. You scan, pay and move on.But for one French woman visiting India, the sheer number of QR codes she came across was a genuine surprise.In a video shared online, she spoke about how different India’s everyday payment culture felt compared with what she was used to in France. She already knew about UPI before coming to India, but she hadn’t expected to see it being used so casually for tiny, everyday purchases.A cup of chai? There was a QR code.Street food? Another one.An autorickshaw ride? She could pay digitally.Even when buying a snack worth just Rs 20, a UPI payment was often an option.And that seemed to be the part that really caught her attention.
‘I really didn’t expect this’
What surprised her wasn’t just seeing UPI in big shops or restaurants. It was how far it had spread into everyday life.She spotted QR codes at roadside stalls, small neighbourhood shops, cafes, rickshaws and other tiny businesses. For her, it was one of those small cultural differences that becomes noticeable only when you’re actually living through it.“Coming from France, this was one of those little everyday cultural differences that made me think, ‘Wow… I really didn’t expect this,’” she wrote in the caption accompanying her video.ID@undefined Caption not available.The post quickly got people talking, with many Indians pointing out that this has become such a normal part of daily life that most people don’t even think twice about it anymore.One person commented that they hadn’t used cash in years, while another pointed out that even a Rs 10 roadside tea can now be paid for through UPI.And that’s perhaps what makes India’s digital payment story interesting. It isn’t restricted to shopping malls, supermarkets or expensive restaurants. The same QR code-based system can be found at a tiny food stall as easily as at a large store.
UPI has changed everyday payments
UPI, or Unified Payments Interface, was launched in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It allows people to send money instantly through participating apps linked to their bank accounts.Over the years, it has become part of ordinary life in India. Splitting a restaurant bill, paying the neighbourhood shopkeeper, buying vegetables or paying a driver can all happen with a quick scan.The numbers show just how widely it’s being used. In January 2026, UPI processed 21.70 billion transactions, worth more than Rs 28.33 lakh crore.So while a QR code stuck to a roadside tea stall might look completely ordinary to an Indian customer, it can still be quite a striking sight for someone seeing this payment culture for the first time.For the French visitor, it was a simple observation from her trip. For the Indians watching her video, it was a reminder of just how much digital payments have quietly changed the way everyday purchases happen.
