Modi pushes for UPI to connect with more countries
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for India’s Unified Payments Interface to expand its international reach by connecting with payment networks in more countries.
Speaking at a fintech event in Mumbai, Modi said UPI should increasingly be linked with overseas payment systems, particularly in countries that have strong commercial ties with India or large Indian communities.
UPI, operated by the National Payments Corporation of India, has become one of the world’s biggest instant-payment platforms by transaction volume. Latest figures cited in the report show that the system processed more than 24.5 billion transactions in August, with their combined value running into tens of trillions of rupees.
UPI is already available in several international markets, including Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, France and Nepal.
India and Singapore had earlier connected UPI with Singapore’s PayNow system, allowing eligible users to transfer money between the two countries using identifiers such as mobile numbers or virtual payment addresses.
Modi said the next phase should involve connecting UPI with additional payment rails around the world.
Greater international adoption could make payments easier for Indian travellers and members of the Indian diaspora while potentially lowering the cost and complexity of cross-border transfers.
The government and Reserve Bank of India have been encouraging overseas expansion of UPI as part of efforts to strengthen India’s digital-payment infrastructure globally.