India’s Unified Payments Interface, UPI could soon become a tool acceptable globally. To start with, Indians travelling to countries like Singapore and UAE will be able to make payments using the UPI based apps on their mobile phones, as per an Economic Times report. UPI is a common payment gateway and is controlled by the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI).
Most popular digital payments app like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm all functioning under the UPI regime. You would download any of these apps on your mobile phone and link your bank account to the app.
Taking this facility international is a logical progression and according to reports the facility may be available within the next six months. After these two countries, the coverage may be expanded. India’s RuPay cards are already accepted in these two countries.
The current scenario is Indians travelling overseas either have to possess special international cards issued by their banks, whether credit cards or debit cards. Not all banks extend this facility to their customers. The only alternative is to pay cash. The UPI payment facility will definitely be a big relief to them.
However, the challenge, as per the report, is onboarding merchants, for which NPCI may have to rely on banks and merchant aggregators in those countries.
UPI transactions have touched 955 million in terms of numbers and crossing a billion transactions in a month will be a big feat. Experts say this move by NCPI to take UPI overseas is as a result of the recommendation by the committee on Digital Payments led by Nandan Nilekani. With some social media sites like Facebook and Google also offering payments facility on their platforms, the global integration may become easier.