UPI QR Code Generator: Share a UPI ID
or a Payment Link as a QR Code

UPI QR codes, explained

What Is a UPI QR Code?

A UPI QR code is an ordinary QR code whose payload is a UPI deep link — a upi://pay?… string that names who is being paid.

There is no separate “UPI” barcode standard. The symbol is the same ISO/IEC 18004 QR code used for a link or a contact card; what makes it a UPI code is the string inside. NPCI's published UPI Linking Specification defines that string, and the parameters are worth knowing because they explain every misunderstanding on this subject:

Read the first row again, because everything else follows from it. pa is the payee. A UPI QR code is a request pointed at whoever scans it, so a scan can only ever set up a payment leaving the scanning phone. And a bare UPI ID with no upi://pay wrapper around it is not that link at all — it is a fragment of one.

It is one of many QR code types, and one of the few where getting the payload wrong costs money rather than a broken link.

Not a product gap

Why a Merchant UPI QR Code Comes From Your Bank or UPI App

This is worth understanding rather than working around, because it is how the rails are built — and because it is the reason a generator promising you a working collection code should make you nervous.

Side by side

UPI ID as Text vs a upi:// String vs a Payment Link

All three are QR codes QRKIT will make for you. They are not interchangeable, and the fourth column — the merchant code your provider issues — is there because it is what most people arriving on this query actually want.

Swipe to see all four columns →

Where we are actually useful

Everything Around the Payment Code

Whichever code ends up on your counter, somebody has to design it, print it, place it and find out whether it works. That is the part nobody's payment app does for you.

UPI QR Codes — Frequently Asked Questions

Can QRKIT generate a UPI payment QR code with my VPA and amount?

No, and the honest version of that answer is more useful than a workaround. QRKIT has no UPI builder: there is no VPA field, no payee-name field, no amount field and no merchant-code field anywhere in the tool. Nothing in it constructs a upi://pay link for you.

For collecting money, that is the right outcome rather than a gap. The QR you are paid through is issued by the UPI app or the bank that onboards you — it carries their handle and, for a merchant code, their merchant details. A third-party generator cannot mint that on their behalf, and you should be suspicious of any that claims it can. What QRKIT does is everything around that code: a Text QR carrying your UPI ID for person-to-person sharing, a dynamic URL QR code pointing at a payment page you control, and the printed cards, signage and scan tracking around either.

Where does a merchant UPI QR code actually come from?

From the UPI app or bank you collect through. Merchant collection runs on an account that has been onboarded, and the QR is issued against that account — which is why the code carries a specific handle rather than a free-form string somebody typed.

There is a regulatory layer above that too. The Reserve Bank of India directed payment system operators away from proprietary QR codes entirely: no new proprietary QR code was to be launched for any payment transaction, and operators running their own were told to migrate to interoperable QR — UPI QR or Bharat QR — by 31 March 2022. Interoperability is the whole point: one code at the counter that any UPI app can pay. A code minted outside that system by a generator is not part of it.

What is inside a UPI QR code?

A deep link. NPCI's published UPI Linking Specification defines the shape upi://pay?pa=…&pn=…&am=…&cu=INR&tn=…, where pa is the payee's virtual payment address and pn the payee name — those two are the required pair. am carries an amount, cu the currency (the spec currently supports only INR), tn a note, and merchant payments add a transaction reference and merchant code.

Two things follow from that. First, a bare UPI ID on its own is not that link — it is a fragment of one, so encoding it produces a code that shows text, not a code that opens a payment. Second, because pa names the payee, scanning a UPI QR sets up a payment out of the scanning phone. Money never arrives because you scanned something.

So what happens if I make a QR code of just my UPI ID?

You get a static text QR code that carries your UPI ID as text. Scanned with a phone camera or a general scanner, it surfaces the ID so somebody can read it and copy it into their own UPI app. That is a real, useful job — it beats spelling a VPA out loud or over a phone line, and it is free and unlimited here.

What it is not is a payment handoff. There is no amount in it, no payee name, and no upi://pay scheme for an app to recognise. Whether any particular UPI app makes something of a plain-text string is that app's business, not ours, and we will not promise it on their behalf — so treat this shape as “here is my UPI ID, legibly” and nothing more. If you need a scan to start a payment, use the code your UPI app or bank issued.

I already have the exact upi:// string from my provider. Can QRKIT encode that?

Yes, verbatim. The Text field stores whatever you type and encodeText returns it unchanged, so a upi://pay?… string you already hold goes into the pattern character for character. We are not building the link — you are supplying it, and we are encoding it.

Two cautions that come with that. Nothing on our side checks the string: the only validation in the Text input is that the field is not empty, so a wrong character encodes cleanly into a code that looks perfect and does not work. And your provider's terms decide whether you may re-render a code they issued you — check that before you print, and test the finished code with the app you will actually be paid through, on a printed proof rather than on screen.

Can I track how many people scan my UPI payment code?

Not the payment code itself, and the reason is structural rather than a plan limit. A code carrying a UPI ID or a upi:// string is static: the data lives in the pattern, so nothing of ours is in the path when somebody scans it. There is nothing for us to count.

What you can track is a dynamic dynamic QR code pointing at a payment page you control. That routes through us, so scan tracking counts the scans — enough to tell which counter, table card or poster is actually doing work. It is scan data, never payment data: QRKIT never sees a transaction, an amount or a payer. Be clear on what free covers, though: it is the count, and the count is capped — one dynamic code, 100 scans a month across the whole account. The breakdowns behind the count — rough location, device and time trends, plus CSV export — start on Starter.

Is it free, and what does free actually include?

For the static shapes on this page — a UPI ID as text, or a upi:// string you supply — yes, with no cap. Static codes are not counted or limited on any plan, and they carry no scan limit because nothing of ours sits between the scanner and the data.

The limits are on the dynamic side, and they matter if you print something. Free includes one dynamic code and 100 scans per month counted across the whole account; past 100 a free dynamic code stops redirecting until the monthly reset, so scans arrive and do not resolve. Designing and previewing need no account, but getting the file does — a signed-out visitor is not handed a download from the QR tool. Once signed in, every plan including free exports without a watermark; free tops out at 1024 px for PNG, and the SVG and PDF exports are not on the free plan at all — they come with any paid plan. If you need more dynamic codes, Starter is $6 per month billed yearly and raises the allowance to 12 — see pricing.

Someone told me to scan a QR code to receive money. Is that real?

No. Read the spec and it falls apart on its own: the pa parameter in a UPI link names the payee. So a scan sets up a payment leaving the scanning phone, and it can only ever do that. There is no arrangement of that link in which scanning it credits you.

Which makes “scan this to get your refund / your cashback / your prize” a shape worth refusing on sight, along with any request for a UPI PIN. The related risk for anyone displaying a code is physical: a printed sticker placed over yours is invisible to a customer, because nobody can read a QR pattern by looking at it. Put your codes where tampering shows, re-scan them yourself on a schedule, and check the payee name your app displays before confirming. Our guide to QR code scams covers the overlay pattern and the rest of the family.

What size should I print a UPI payment card or counter sign at?

Bigger than feels necessary, and with the quiet-zone margin left clear. Scan distance is what drives size: a code somebody leans over at a counter can be small, a code across a shop or on a poster cannot. Keep strong dark-on-light contrast, and remember that a longer string means a denser pattern — a full upi://pay link with a note and a reference is a lot more data than a short link.

Export the SVG for anything going to print; it needs a paid plan. On this create flow SVG is the true vector output — the PDF here is a raster image placed on an A4 page, which is fine for a quick office print and wrong for a printer's artwork. Our guide to printing QR codes covers minimum sizes and quiet zones, and QR code stickers covers the counter-and-card end of it.

Can I make UPI-related codes in bulk, or through an API?

Bulk creation from a CSV is on the Plus plan and above — useful if you are producing one card per table, per stall or per delivery route and each needs its own link. API access starts on Starter. Neither builds a UPI payload; both create the same codes described on this page, just many at a time or from your own system.

If what you actually need is one printed code per location with separate scan counts, that is the dynamic URL shape and it is worth checking the dynamic-code allowance on your plan before you commit to a print run. The pricing page lists the ladder.