India’s central bank Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have updated their master directions on prepaid payment instruments, where travellers from G20 countries, including those from Gulf regions as well as the non-resident Indians (NRIs) can access the recently launched unified payments interface (UPI).
Dr Bhagwat Karad, Minister of State for Finance said, most countries outside India began accepting UPI mode of payments only a year ago. While the practice of online medium of payment was launched as a pilot project in India during April 2016, in Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, reported the Emirates News Agency.
RBI first approved of UPI facility in February, for travellers from G20 countries at select locations which include Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi international airports for merchant payments. This is now expected to extend across all entry points in India.
Dr Karad also said in the parliament that the Reserve Bank of India is facilitating engagements for UPI expansion in countries that show potential for collaboration. He further added that, a provision is made to provide UPI access to NRIs who have international mobile numbers linked to their non-resident accounts in India, based on the report.
With UPI becoming increasingly accessible to a larger customer base, the scale of transactions through this mode of payment is bound to increase substantially. Experts also predict a surge in transaction volumes, which in turn will strengthen the platform’s global presence, reported the Times of India.
