Following Singapore, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in talks with several nations, including United Arab Emirates(UAE), Indonesia, and Mauritius, to establish a direct digital payment link of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with these countries. This will allow the citizens of those countries to make cheaper and quicker fund transfers using mobile phones.
According to a senior RBI officer, some Latin American nations have shown their interest.
The central bank is publicizing UPI and the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), also known as the digital rupee, to the attendees at the event and also permits foreigners to use UPI.
The regulator and the government are willing to expand UPI payment links to facilitate fund transfers, eliminating the high costs charged by banks and reducing the processing time. This decision is thought to be beneficial, especially for the Indian diaspora.
Additionally, the RBI said that the usage of UPI for non-resident Indians (NRI) would also become operational in the coming month, enabling them to use the tool through international phone numbers.
Due to technical issues, the tool could not be used though being enabled.
When asked about the central bank’s digital currency, the RBI stated that they are trying continuously to ramp up the pilot to cover as many as possible in a closed user group.
The RBI is now looking to extend to more areas and includes more banks on the retail side, where pilots are already going on in a number of cities.
