RBI allows UPI for inbound travellers from G-20 countries

Delegates from G20 countries, RBI said, can also avail of this facility at various meeting venues.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on February 21, extended unified payments interface (UPI) services for inbound travellers from G-20 countries.

Delegates from G20 countries, RBI said, can also avail of this facility at various meeting venues.

Earlier, on February 8, the apex bank announced a facility to enable all inbound travellers visiting India to make local payments using UPI while they are in India.

In the initial stage, only ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank and two non-bank PPI issuers, Pine Labs Private Limited and Transcorp International Limited will issue UPI-linked wallets, the release said.

"To start with, it is available to travellers from G-20 countries, at select international airports (Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi). Eligible travellers would be issued Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) wallets linked to UPI for making payments at merchant outlets," the apex bank said in the release.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, February 8 said: "UPI has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India. It is now proposed to permit all inbound travelers to India to use UPI for their merchant payments (P2M) while they are in the country. To begin with, this facility will be extended to travelers from G-20 countries arriving at select international airports."

On the other side, on February 21, India and Singapore inked a pact to launch cross-border connectivity between the UPI and its Singapore counterpart PayNow.

Also read: SBI, ICICI bank, 2 more banks to facilitate money transfer through UPI-PayNow link

The facility was launched through token transactions by RBI Governor Das and Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Ravi Menon using the UPI-PayNow linkage.

UPI is a system that allows multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood.