PM Modi, Wickremesinghe, Jugnauth to witness launch of UPI services in Sri Lanka, Mauritius

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth will witness the launch of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius, as well as, RuPay card services in Mauritius, on Monday 1 pm via video conferencing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

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Given India's robust cultural and people-to-people linkages with Sri Lanka and Mauritius, 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, the MEA release also said.

The launch will enable the availability of UPI settlement services for Indian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka and Mauritius, as well as, for Mauritian nationals travelling to India.

The extension of RuPay card services in Mauritius will enable Mauritian banks to issue cards based on the RuPay mechanism in Mauritius and facilitate the usage of RuPay cards for settlements both in India and Mauritius, it added.

Notably, during Wickremesinghe's New Delhi visit in July 2023, India and Sri Lanka inked an agreement of UPI's acceptance in the island country.

Earlier that year, in February, PhonePe, Indian digital payments and financial technology company, launched support for cross-border UPI payments, under UPI International, allowing the apps' users to use their Indian bank accounts to pay at merchant outlets in the UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan, The Bhutan Live reported.

With this, PhonePe became the first in its category to integrate UPI International. UPI International, introduced by the cross-border arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI International Payments Limited), facilitates UPI transactions for the Indian diaspora abroad.

Rahul Chari, CTO and co-founder of PhonePe, as quoted by The Bhutan Live, said, "UPI International is the first major step in letting the rest of the world experience UPI too. I am sure this launch will prove to be a game-changer and will completely transform the way Indians travelling overseas pay at merchant outlets abroad."

PhonePe is India's largest UPI app by market size. The app raised USD 350 million in funding as part of its USD 1 billion fundraising ahead of an initial public offering (IPO).

The UPI payment system has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India, and its adoption is increasing at a rapid pace. It is India's mobile-based fast payment system, which facilitates customers to make round-the-clock payments instantly using a virtual payment address (VPA) created by the customer.