QRIS: Indonesia’s Gift to ASEAN’s Digital Future

 QRIS: Indonesia’s Gift to ASEAN’s Digital Future

By Teguh Anantawikrama

Vice Chairman, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN)

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In a world increasingly shaped by digital ecosystems, Southeast Asia must chart its own course—one that is inclusive, practical, and grounded in regional realities. As the region embraces economic integration and digital transformation, Indonesia’s QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) emerges as more than just a national innovation. It stands as a candidate for the de facto payment gateway of ASEAN—a unifying infrastructure that connects markets, empowers micro-enterprises, and accelerates our tourism economy.

QRIS was created by Bank Indonesia to solve a basic problem: fragmentation in digital payments. But what began as a national standard has quickly evolved into a scalable, interoperable platform now recognized across borders. With active cooperation from the central banks of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, QRIS is fast becoming the backbone of cross-border payments in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia’s Digital Reach Is Already Regional

Today, more than 150 million Indonesians are QRIS users. Over 30 million merchants, 95% of them MSMEs, accept QRIS payments. These numbers are not abstract—they represent digital inclusion on a massive scale. From street vendors in Jakarta to tourism operators in Lake Toba, QRIS has turned mobile phones into financial lifelines.

With over IDR 160 trillion in QRIS transactions in 2024 alone, the system has proven both resilient and trusted. What’s more, its architecture is low-cost and device-agnostic, making it a perfect fit for ASEAN’s many informal economies.

A Game-Changer for Tourism

As Vice Chairman of KADIN and Chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Investor Club, I have seen firsthand how digital infrastructure boosts tourism competitiveness. QRIS is now a silent enabler of Indonesia’s tourism revival. It allows travelers from Malaysia, Thailand, and soon the Philippines to pay directly with their home e-wallets while visiting Bali, Yogyakarta, or Labuan Bajo.

In the next two years, Indonesia targets 17 million foreign tourist arrivals and over 1.4 billion domestic tourism movements. QRIS ensures that even the smallest homestay or food stall can cater to international tourists—without depending on foreign card networks or costly point-of-sale systems.

This is not just digital convenience. This is digital sovereignty, enabling Indonesia to modernize its tourism economy on its own terms.

MSMEs: From Survival to Growth

Indonesia’s 65 million MSMEs form the soul of our economy. They contribute over 60% of GDP and absorb 97% of the workforce. Yet for too long, they have been disconnected from formal financial systems.

QRIS is changing that. It provides instant payment, sales visibility, and transaction history, which in turn open doors to micro-lending, tax incentives, and digital upskilling. In many rural provinces, QRIS adoption has increased MSME sales volume by up to 30%.

This is what transformation looks like: empowerment through infrastructure, not handouts.

ASEAN Needs a Common Payment Language

If ASEAN is to fulfill its promise of economic integration, it needs a common, inclusive digital payment system. QRIS fits that vision—not just technically, but ideologically. It is open, collaborative, and designed for the majority, not the elite.

Indonesia now has an opportunity—and arguably a responsibility—to lead. We should embed QRIS into ASEAN tourism corridors, SME trade platforms, and remittance channels. We should push for regulatory harmonization at the level of ASEAN Central Bank Governors. And we should invite the private sector—fintechs, banks, and telcos—to build value-added services on top of this shared standard.

Let QRIS be Indonesia’s gift to the region: not just a tool of payment, but a symbol of what ASEAN can build for itself, by itself.

The future of Southeast Asia is digital, yes—but more importantly, it must be digitally sovereign, regionally integrated, and socially inclusive. QRIS shows us how.

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About the author:

Teguh Anantawikrama is Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN), Founder of the Indonesian Tourism Investor Club, and a long-time advocate of MSME empowerment and inclusive economic policy in Indonesia.