India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services will be launched in Sri Lanka and Mauritius at a virtual ceremony on Monday. The event will be witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the top leadership of the two island nations.
India’s RuPay card services would also be launched where Mauritian PM Pravind Jugnauth and Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe will join Modi at the virtual ceremony at 1 pm, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
In Sri Lanka, the interface will be linked with Lanka Pay to allow digital transactions on UPI in Sri Lanka.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth will witness the launch of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius, and also RuPay card services in Mauritius on February 12 at 1 PM via video conferencing,” it said.
Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI is an instant real-time payment system to facilitate inter-bank transactions through mobile phones. RuPay is a global card payment network from India, with wide acceptance at shops, ATMs, and online.
The launch of the Indian services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius is taking place amid New Delhi’s increasing bilateral economic ties with the two countries “India has emerged as a leader in Fintech innovation and Digital Public Infrastructure. The prime minister has placed a strong emphasis on sharing our development experiences and innovation with partner countries,” the MEA said in a statement.
It said given India’s robust cultural and people-to-people linkages with Sri Lanka and Mauritius, the launch will benefit a wide cross-section of people through a faster and seamless digital transaction experience and enhance digital connectivity between the countries.
“The launch will enable availability of UPI settlement services for Indian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka and Mauritius as well as for Mauritian nationals travelling to India,” it said. “The extension of RuPay card services in Mauritius will enable Mauritian banks to issue cards based on RuPay mechanism in Mauritius and facilitate usage of RuPay card for settlements both in India and Mauritius,” it added.
In February 2022, UPI was also launched in Singapore, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong witnessing the launch of cross-border connectivity between UPI and PayNow via videoconferencing. The linkage allowed transfer of fund between India and Singapore in a swift and cost-effective way just by using phone number.
Apart from this, PhonePe has also enabled payments abroad and has said all international merchant outlets in the UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR code are supported.
(With PTI Inputs)
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