India's PhonePe has integrated with Mashreq Bank to allow Indians travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to make UPI payments through the bank’s Neopay terminals located across the region.
The collaboration is facilitated via NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the Walmart-backed payments company said in a release on March 28.
“With this partnership, customers can now conveniently transact through UPI, a payment method they are familiar with. The collaboration opens doors to seamless transactions, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable journey for visitors,” said Ritesh Pai, CEO International Payments, PhonePe.
NPCI already has tie-ups with various institutions in the UAE, including Neopay, the Arab Monetary Fund through Buna and Network International.
These partnerships will help implement payment solutions that will lead to interoperability with UPI, allowing Indians to make payments to merchants in the UAE.
After Bhim UPI, PhonePe, the largest UPI app by market size, has also joined the bandwagon to facilitate UPI transactions in the said region.
Users visiting UAE will be able to scan the QR codes from PhonePe app at the Neopay terminals in retail stores, dining outlets, as well as tourist and leisure attractions, eliminating the need for international cards.
The account debit will occur in Indian rupee, showing the currency exchange rate.
NRIs with UAE mobile numbers can also download the PhonePe app and link their existing NRE and NRO accounts to facilitate payments, allowing convenience of transactions for the Indian diaspora in the region.
“We are delighted to collaborate with PhonePe to offer yet another new payment solution for Indian tourists and visitors in the UAE, helping further cement the already strong financial relations between the two countries,” Neopay CEO Vibhor Mundhada said.
PhonePe said it will also introduce inward remittance services once inward remittances are enabled. This will simplify the process of transferring money by leveraging the UPI infrastructure, thereby eliminating the need for details such as bank account numbers and IFSC codes.
The fintech firm claims to have over 520 million registered users and a digital payments acceptance network of 38 million merchants. It processes over 230 million daily transactions with an annualised total payment balue (TPV) of more than $1.5 trillion.
As NPCI, the entity behind UPI, forges ties with various global financial institutions to enable international payments via UPI, Indian payment apps like PhonePe, Paytm, Amazon Pay and Google Pay have been working on integrating their systems to offer the facility.
Besides UAE, countries like France, Bhutan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Mauritius have given a greenlight to implementation of the UPI within their borders.
Payments made via UPI abroad attract a transfer or exchange rate fees.
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