What is QRIS?

What QRIS is

Bank Indonesia set QRIS as the national standard for payment QR codes and developed it with the payment industry. Every payment service provider (PJP) that uses payment QR codes has to use QRIS. As a result, one code covers every app: Bank Indonesia says all QR payments can now go through the same QRIS code, whatever payment instrument the customer uses.

Behind the code, a QRIS payment involves the payer's app (the issuer), the merchant's provider (the acquirer), a switching company that routes the payment, a standards body and a national merchant repository. Providers and switching companies need Bank Indonesia's approval before they process QRIS payments. Payments can come from a bank account, a debit or credit card, a credit facility or server-based e-money.

QRIS also connects to other countries' QR systems. Bank Indonesia calls this QRIS Antarnegara (cross-border QRIS) and says it favours local currencies.

The ways QRIS is used

Bank Indonesia describes two modes, each with its own use:

• Merchant-presented, static: the shop shows one sticker or printout. You scan it, type the amount, enter your PIN and pay. Both sides get a notification at once. Bank Indonesia says this suits micro and small businesses, and the printed code is free.
• Merchant-presented, dynamic: the shop types the amount on a card terminal or phone, which shows a code for that payment. You scan it and pay. This suits medium and large businesses and busy tills.
• Customer-presented: you show a QRIS code in your payment app and the shop scans it. Bank Indonesia gives transport, parking and modern retail as examples, where speed matters.

How a business gets a QRIS code

Bank Indonesia's answer is short: open an account with any QRIS payment provider licensed by Bank Indonesia. That provider registers your business and gives you your QRIS code, and from then on you can be paid from any QRIS app.

Which provider to choose depends on where you want the money to land, such as your bank account or an e-wallet, and on the provider's terms. Ask how they settle payments to you and how they handle disputes.

Why there's no free QRIS generator

You'll find sites offering a "QRIS generator". A real QRIS code is built on the EMVCo standard for payment QR codes and carries merchant details that your licensed provider registers, so the payment can be routed to you. A code built from scratch, with no provider behind it, isn't registered anywhere. At best a payment app refuses it; at worst it's edited from someone else's code and pays them, not you.

So get your QRIS code from your provider's app or merchant portal. Some sites change only the amount in an existing QRIS code; we don't offer that either, because we haven't been able to test it against an official QRIS example.

If you need a payment code in another country where you can make your own, see how payment QR codes work.

Limits and fees

Bank Indonesia caps a QRIS payment at Rp10,000,000 per transaction. The issuer of your payment app may also set daily or monthly totals, based on its own risk management, so check your app.

Merchants pay a merchant discount rate (MDR) on QRIS payments, not the payer. Bank Indonesia's table sets these rates:

• Micro businesses: 0% on payments up to Rp500,000, and 0.3% above that.
• Small, medium and large businesses: 0.7%.
• Education: 0.6%.
• Petrol stations: 0.4%.
• Public service agencies, and government payments such as social aid, taxes, passports and charitable donations: 0%.

Paying safely with QRIS

Scan the code with your own payment app and read the merchant name it shows before you enter your PIN. At a shop with a printed code, check that the sticker hasn't been covered by another one. After paying, show the shop the notification in your app, and shops should wait for theirs before handing over goods.