India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is expected to expand its presence in the North American market and other Middle Eastern countries following successful launches in Singapore and France, according to Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of the National Payments Council of India. Shukla emphasized the importance of countries significant to Indian travelers and those with a large Indian diaspora residing, such as the Middle East and North America, as the target market for future expansion. However, he did not provide a specific timeline for the launch in these countries.
NPCI’s NIPL Expands UPI’s Global Presence with Varied Strategies and Partnerships
NPCI’s NIPL adopts different strategies and partnerships in different countries. Some countries focus on infrastructure building, while others concentrate on establishing interoperability. Infrastructure building involves assisting countries in developing their own payment platforms similar to UPI, while interoperability aims to connect the Indian ecosystem with other ecosystems worldwide, particularly to facilitate Indians traveling abroad.
The global aspirations of UPI received a significant boost when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Indian tourists would be able to make rupee payments using UPI from the Eiffel Tower during his visit to Paris. Furthermore, India launched cross-border connectivity with PayNow of Singapore on February 21. UPI’s popularity is steadily growing globally, extending its reach to inbound foreign travelers from G20 countries for making merchant payments and catering to non-resident Indians (NRIs) in selected international countries.
India Expands Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Globally, Enabling Cross-Border Digital Payments
On February 13, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that India had signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with 13 countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, and Japan, expressing their interest in adopting the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for digital payments.
Nepal became the first foreign country to implement UPI as a payment platform through a collaboration between Nepal’s Manam Infotech and Gateway Payments Service. This collaboration enabled the operation of person-to-person (P2P), person-to-merchant (P2M), and cross-border payments.
The increasing popularity of UPI has sparked interest, and NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) is actively pursuing further collaborations. The expansion of UPI globally introduces new dimensions, as acceptance for various UPI-powered apps is being established in other markets. The successful launch in Singapore generated excitement, leading to approaches from other markets to develop similar solutions.
The global expansion of the UPI platform is expected to facilitate faster and easier cross-border transactions, subsequently driving the growth of transaction volumes. Experts predict that daily transactions on the UPI platform could reach one billion within the next three years, as UPI reaches its full potential.
UPI, originally designed to enable Indian consumers with multiple bank accounts to make payments for merchants and personal transactions within India, is now transforming as it ventures into the global market.
As of June 2023, the UPI transaction volume reached 9.33 million, with the total value of transactions touching Rs 14.75 lakh crore for the month.
