UPI to be integrated with Universal Postal Union to speed up cross-border remittances

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has proposed UPI's integration with Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations agency that is the primary international forum for the postal sector, during the 28th Universal Postal Congress in Dubai.

More people living across borders will soon be able to send money faster and at much lower cost, after the Indian government unveiled a crucial project on September 9, in an effort to transform cross-border remittances.

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has proposed UPI's integration with Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations agency that is the primary international forum for the postal sector, during the 28th Universal Postal Congress in Dubai.

“The reliability of the postal network combined with the speed of UPI means families across borders can send money faster, safer and at much lower cost. It reaffirms that public infrastructure built for citizens can be linked across borders to serve humanity better,” Minister Scindia said.

Scindia also announced a financial commitment of $10 million to foster innovation with special focus on e-commerce and digital payments. India is also seeking to run the Council of Administration and the Postal Operations Council of the UPU and is proposing to enhance the global postal community.

“With Aadhaar, Jan Dhan and India Post Payments Bank, we have opened over 560 million accounts, most in women’s names. India Post delivered over 900 million letters and parcels last year. This is the scale and spirit of inclusion we bring to the global stage,” Minister Scindia said.

India's pitch at the UPU is to enable interoperable solutions to avoid costs and fragmentation. The measures proposed by the Communications Minister include linking payments, identity and logistics to make global commerce 'seamless'.

According to the latest State of the Postal Sector report, between 2020 and 2024, the global third-party logistics market has doubled in size, with Amazon alone doubling its fulfilment capacity in just two years, and its micro-fulfilment centres are projected to grow by over 4000% by 2031. This 'explosive growth' in the parallel infrastructure has resulted in a 25% rise in air freight emissions and a 6-19% rise in carbon intensity per tonne-kilometre on intercontinental routes, the report said.