QRIS

Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard (abbreviated as QRIS, the abbreviation being a play on keris, a traditional sword; ) is a real-time payment system developed by Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Indonesian Payment System Association (ASPI) aimed to integrate all non-cash payment methods in Indonesia. Launched in 2019, the system enables peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions between banks and person-to-merchant (P2M) payments. All payment service providers (PJP) who uses QR code payments are required to implement QRIS. QRIS can be used by all smartphones with a QR code scanner to transfer funds. QRIS is also available as a near field communication (NFC) based payment under the name QRIS Tap.

By 2024, QRIS transactions in Indonesia have seen a significant surge of 226.54% over the past year, with the number of users reaching 50.50 million and 32.71 million merchants onboarded. The total annual value of QRIS transactions in 2024 is Rp42 trillion (equivalent to $2.57 billion).

History

Before Bank Indonesia applied the standard, QR codes used by different mobile payment services were exclusive to them; a QR code issued by one service could not be used by another. On 16 August 2019, by the ratification of Board of Governor Decree No. 21/18/PADG/2019 on the Implementation of the Quick Response Code National Standard for Payment Purposes, BI announced integration of cashless payment methods and services. This standard, named ''Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard'' (QRIS), was launched on the 74th anniversary of Indonesia's Independence Day. Payment services were required to implement QRIS by 1 January 2020.

At the start of COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, many small and large businesses in Indonesia registered their stores to obtain a QRIS-compliant QR code to accommodate increasing demand for online transactions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 from banknotes and coins. The Secretary of the Indonesian Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Rully Indrawan, stated that by using QRIS, merchants "...could develop their credit profile, which in turn would increase their chance to get funding loans. ..Each transaction can also be documented and directly transferred to merchant's bank account, which helps prevent theft and distribution of counterfeit money."

According to Bank Indonesia, by October 2020, QRIS had been implemented by 3.6 million small and micro businesses in Indonesia. QRIS has also been implemented in several tourist attractions and public transport ticketing apps.

By October 2023, the number of QRIS merchants had reached 29.6 million, along with 43.44 million users, with 92 percent of the merchants being MSMEs.

On March 2025, a NFC-based QRIS payment system, branded as QRIS Tap, was launched by Bank Indonesia. The standard was developed to improve the slow transaction speed of QR code payments. QRIS Tap was initially available to Android phones, with iOS support planed in the future.

Cross-border linkage

To support Indonesia's vision of a standardized global trade and retail payment infrastructure, QRIS has established and rapidly expanded its cross-border transactions reach. As of 2 August 2024, users can pay with QRIS or participating apps in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.

QRIS's overseas expansion commenced with a pilot program between Indonesia and Thailand on 17 August 2021, followed by a full rollout on 29 August 2022. A similar path was taken with Malaysia, starting with a pilot on 27 January 2022, and a commercial launch on 8 May 2023. The most recent expansion came on 17 November 2023, with the integration of Singapore.

By 2 August 2024, MoUs had been signed with South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, with plans to enable QRIS transactions in these countries, as well as Japan and India, in the near future.

US government response

In its 2025 Foreign Trade Barriers report, the Office of the United States Trade Representative claimed that QRIS, along with other monetary policies enacted by Bank Indonesia, were limiting American payment options. According to the report, U.S. companies, including payment providers and banks, were concerned that during BI’s QR code policymaking process, international stakeholders were neither informed of the nature of the potential changes nor given an opportunity to explain their views on such a system, including how it might be designed to interact most seamlessly with existing payment systems.

References

External links

*
*

{{Digital payment providers

Digital currencies
Indonesian brands
Online payments
2019 establishments in Indonesia
Barcodes