UPI123Pay New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken various steps to expand the reach of UPI outside India and 37,096 users have joined the payments network, Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad said recently in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is devoted to the internationalization of UPI, the minister said.
NIPL has undertaken various initiatives across nations to enable cross-border acceptance of BHIM UPI QR at a merchant establishment.
These partnerships will facilitate Indian travellers to make payments using the BHIM UPI QR for all their retail purchases at international merchant establishments.
Currently, BHIM UPI QR has gained acceptance in Singapore (March, 2020), Bhutan (July, 2021) and recently with partners in UAE and Nepal (February, 2022).
However, travel restrictions owing to the pandemic over the last two years have impacted overseas use of this facility.
In this regard, RBI has been facilitating engagements for the expansion of UPI in countries that have the potential for collaboration. Various models of engagements being explored are as follows:
The models of engagements that have been explored include:
Central Bank to Central Bank cooperation through an agreement or MoU; Central Bank facilitated discussion and agreement between the network and the Central Bank / Government Agency;and Network to network arrangement.
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