NPCI arm in talks with 30 countries for RuPay card and UPI acceptance, says govt

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NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is presently engaged with more than 30 countries for the adoption of RuPay-based credit cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Rajkumar Singh, Minister of State in External Affairs informed Parliament on July 29.

“NIPL…has approached foreign countries with the objective to assist them in building UPI-like solutions and transforming their digital payments landscape through an interoperable payment system,” Singh said.

The UPI apps would enable the use of RuPay cards by Indian travellers abroad for making purchases and remittances to and from India with efficiency and speed, the minister said.

Presently, the UAE, Bhutan and Singapore have accepted RuPay-based cards and UPI in the country, while Nepal has allowed usage of RuPay cards only, he added.

The minister was responding to a query on whether there was any proposal to expand the reach of Rupay and UPI globally.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, on June 8, announced that credit cards can be allowed to be linked to UPI directly. Initially, only RuPay-based cards will be allowed on the UPI platform, he said.

In an industry event earlier this month, NPCI chief Dilip Asbe told reporters that the linkage of RuPay-based credit cards with UPI handles should take approximately a month. During FY22, transaction value on the UPI platform breached the $1 trillion mark.