The impact of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system in India has been great over the last few years. The adoption of UPI has kept on growing, especially during the pandemic when a lot of users preferred cashless transactions. Now UPI could soon reach major international destinations such as Indonesia, UAE, and Mauritius. It is worth recalling that UPI has already reached Singapore, and now international money transfers to users in Singapore can be done via apps such as Paytm, GPay and more.
Read More - UPI and PayNow of Singapore Linked to Send Money Internationally
According to a TNN report, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is reportedly in talks with several countries, including Mauritius, UAE, and Indonesia, for the extension of UPI. This would enable quicker and more affordable transfer of funds internationally using mobile phones. The report added that a senior RBI officer told the reports on the sidelines of the meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors that some of the Latin American countries have also shown interest in the system of UPI.
The central bank is showcasing the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) along with UPI and is also allowing foreigners to use UPI. If UPI is enabled for fund transfers to more countries, it would mean a lower cost of fund transfers for the citizens. Banks currently charge a lot of money from users whenever they try to send money to an international account. The same is the case with payment platforms such as PayPal.
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The RBI officer also said that UPI will also be availed for non-resident Indians from the next month. Basically, UPI will allow money transfers from international mobile numbers. This would again be a game-changing move for the Indians who are not living in the country or the ones that travel outside a lot.
On CBDC, the RBI official said that they are trying to ramp up the pilot as soon as possible in a closed group. There is a pilot for retail stores already happening in several cities of the nation, and now the RBI is looking to expand it to more cities and is likely to include more banks.
