India’s UPI Push

In News

• Recently, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) paved the way for NRIs to be able to transact using Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
  • ‘Non-resident Indian’ (NRI) is a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India. 

About

• The NPCI has listed 10 countries where non-resident account holders can make transactions through UPI. These countries are Singapore, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, United States of America, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
• Since UPI follows SIM binding where the user’s bank account is integrated with his/her mobile number, NRIs were unable to use UPI from their international numbers. 
• Who can use it? NRIs holding NRE/NRO accounts with banks in India will be able to register themselves on UPI platforms from their international numbers. 
  • Non Resident External (NRE) accounts are those used by non-residents to transfer earnings from foreign soil to India while Non Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts are used to manage income earned in India by non-residents.  

What is UPI?

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood. 
• It was developed by NPCI in 2016.
• Participants in UPI: Payer Payment Service Provider (PSP), Payee PSP, Remitter Bank, Beneficiary Bank, NPCI, Bank Account holders, and Merchants.
• While many countries including Singapore, Bhutan, UAE, Oman, and others have adopted the UPI architecture, the government of India is already in talks with several countries to enable UPI payments in their countries. 
• In this context, the NPCI’s latest move marks a significant moment for India’s UPI going global.

Source: TH