Sri Lanka and Mauritius will be enabling Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
Those who love to travel and are always worried about smooth transactions in abroad countries. Such people will be happy to learn that, now they can make payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in foreign countries as well. India was the first country who initiate a cashless transaction through UPI in 2016. It was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and now, many other countries have launched this instant payment system in their countries. Now more countries are using this cashless transaction including France. A week after this UPI was introduced in France, two more countries have adopted cashless transactions in their countries.
Mauritius and Sri Lanka are going to launch the Indian digital payment system in their countries. The announcement was officially shared on Sunday, 11th February 2024 by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). As per the announcement of MEA, the UPI services will be introduced in Mauritius and Sri Lanka on Monday, 12th February 2024. The digital transaction initiative will be started by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, Mauritius Prime Minister, Pravin Jugnauth, and Sri Lanka President, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday. In further addition to this, the Prime Minister of Mauritius will also introduce RuPay card services in their country.
The virtual launch event will start at 01:00 PM on Monday. As per the statement shared by the ministry office, “Given India’s robust cultural and people-to-people linkages with Mauritius and Sri Lanka, the launch will benefit a wide cross-section of people through a faster and seamless digital transaction experience and enhance digital connectivity between the countries.” During the announcement on Sunday, the MEA stated that India showcased itself as a leader in digital public infrastructure and fintech innovation and PM Modi has placed a strong significance on sharing the development experiences innovative with partner countries.
The introduction of UPI in these countries will be beneficial for Indian travellers as well. It will enable the availability of cashless transaction services for Indian travellers in both countries whereas the travellers of Mauritius will also be able to make their travelling smooth in India with the help of UPI and RuPay card services. In addition to this, The extension of RuPay services will also authorize the banks of Mauritius to issue RuPay cards and use them for payment settlements in both Mauritius and India. This facilitation will be helpful to make smooth transactions in both countries.
Earlier, on Friday, 2nd February 2024, UPI was introduced at the Eiffel Tower in Paris at the time of the Republic Day reception. With the introduction of UPI in France, tourists of India can book online tickets for the Eiffel Tower by using UPI. It is worth noting that France has become the first European country to enable UPI services. As we mentioned above in the above lines, the official announcement of introducing UPI in France was made by the Indian Embassy in Paris during an event. With this launch, the Eiffel Tower was the first merchant to offer UPI services in their country. NPCI International Payments Limited stated that the UPI payments would extend to other merchants in the tourism and retail space. The introduction of UPI payments in foreign countries is part of Modi’s “vision of taking UPI global.”
What Is Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system created by NPCI. This service in India was introduced to facilitate interbank transactions with the help of mobile phones. It is a system that powers numerous bank accounts into a single mobile application, bringing together multiple banking features including transactions.