Singapore, UAE to Bank on India for Money: Soon, UPI will Power Digital Payments Abroad

India’s digital payment backbone UPI, which has awed some of the biggest tech companies in the world such as Google and Oracle, may soon power Singapore and UAE. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) may soon be available in Singapore and UAE as NPCI looks to expand globally. NPCI is eyeing international markets and will launch a pilot project in 6-9 months, Dilip Asbe, CEO and MD, National Payments Corporation of India, told CNBC TV-18 in an interview. However, the organisation will need to secure approval of the governments of both India and the countries that it looks to expand to, Dilip Asbe added. UPI is one of the fastest adopted payments systems in the world.

Launched in 2016, UPI has crossed one billion transactions mark in India, getting a big push after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move. Digital payments have gained momentum in the last three years due to factors like government pushing for digital, cashless society and fast, reliable, and frictionless services rendered by platforms such as Paytm, Google Pay etc. In just eight months from April 2019, India has reported digital transactions worth Rs 2,154 crore, according to Digidhan dashboard.

Earlier, Financial Express Online had reported that customers find digital payments lucrative because of various cashbacks and discounts offered. “Queried about what would encourage consumers to use digital payments more frequently, 42 percent said that they wanted better rewards — discounts, incentives or cashbacks, followed by 24 per cent who saw faster and more frictionless checkout as the key motivating factor,” data compiled by ACI Worldwide showed.

UPI was introduced merely few months before demonetisation. While the platform initially had only 21 banks, over time, more than 120 banks have joined the platform. Allowing real time interoperable transactions for both consumers and merchants, UPI has grown at a stellar rate which is evident from the fact that the RBI-watched interface dominates about 80% of the share in certain categories which includes person-2-person payments, bill payments and cash backs.

Meanwhile, Google’s mobile payment system Google Pay is the most widely used interface for UPI payments in India. Google Pay has annualised transaction value worth $110 billion and 6.7 crore monthly users.

Source: FE

Image Courtesy: DataQuest