India is in talks with multiple countries to make UPI (Unified Payments Interface), RuPay, and even the BHIM app work within their geographical boundaries for payment processing. The Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said on Oct 11, 2022, that our systems (UPI and BHIM app) are now being worked to talk to/merge with the payment systems in respective countries to strengthen Indian expertise via interoperability.
In response to a question raised at the University of Maryland to have UPI in the United States, the Finance Minister said: “We are working together with different countries. UAE and Singapore have come forward for making RuPay acceptable in their native regions.”
What’s the UPI in Europe angle?
Besides this, NPCI International Payments Ltd. (NIPL) – the global arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has partnered with Worldline, a payment service facilitator in Europe. This partnership aims to expand the acceptance of Indian payment systems across Europe, as defined in a joint release.
This will allow the Indians to make payments through UPI in Europe. Moreover, Worldline will add more convenience for Indian customers as they can pay at merchant Point-Of-Sale (POS) systems seamlessly via UPI in the European markets.
Later on, it has been planned to allow Indians to use RuPay debit and credit cards for payments in Europe. Currently, this is done via International card networks.
Since UPI makes multiple bank accounts accessible through a single mobile application, it will further enhance the customer experience and open up new business opportunities for merchants. This is expected to result in a multitude of merchant benefits because of increased footfall and the corresponding rise in the spending by Indian tourists in Europe.
Related Facts:
- In Sep 2022, the volume of UPI transactions stood at 67.80 billion having a value of Rs. 11,16, 438.10 lakh crores.
- NPCI has issued 714 million RuPay cards in India till date.
The game of NIPL ahead
NIPL has also said that it has plans to target BENELUX (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and Switzerland markets to further expand the footprint of the Indian payment systems by rolling out Worldline QR in European regions.
This has also been done based on analyzing the payment behavior of International customers that indicate a push away from international card schemes paired with the preference for a mobile payment method they are more acquainted with.
On this collaboration, Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL said:
“The acceptance of UPI-powered apps and indigenously created RuPay cards across Europe is quite important for us as we expect a rise in the mobility of Indians in the European continent in the coming years. This partnership will empower Indians to use their preferred payment modes as they travel to Europe.”
This does not end here as there’s more with TerraPay
UK-based TerraPay has also partnered with NIPL to allow Indian merchants and customers having an active UPI ID to accept and make cross-border payments. This is aimed to allow Indians to transact at QR locations enabled by TerraPay.
Recommended Read: UPI ID: Meaning, Definition, How to Create, and More
As NPCI said about this:
“This partnership aims to increase QR and UPI usage for cross-border merchant payments. UPI, the instant Real-Time Payments (RTP) system developed in India is amongst the most successful RTP systems globally.”
With this partnership, TerraPay is also keen on building interoperability among different financial instruments it empowers and expects the underserved or marginalized communities to get into the mainstream of digital payments.
Ritesh Pai, President – Product & Solutions, TerraPay, said:
“Our aim is to develop faster, innovative, and transparent solutions for cross-border payments. This partnership with NIPL will act as a catalyst to enable interoperability between countries or schemes. This is one strong step toward making cross-border payments cost-effective, immediate, and accessible for all.”
Wait! There’s more in NPCI global collaborations
NIPL has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that confirms its partnership with PayXpert to internationalize acceptance of its payment solutions in the United Kingdom (UK). Based on this partnership, the Indian payment solutions will be available on all Android POS devices governed by PayXpert to facilitate in-store payments. It will begin with UPI-based QR code payments followed by the integration of RuPay card payments (Source).
This partnership will also pave the way for Indian travelers in the UK to make payments using a familiar system.
Besides this, NIPL has also signed an MoU with Lyra Network for UPI and RuPay card acceptance in France. So far, this international branch of NPCI has worked on inking partnerships with Japan Credit Bureau, US-based Discover Financial Services, Union Pay International China, and many others (Source).
