UPI One World Wallet service launched for NRIs and international travelers
The scope of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has increased rapidly in the last few years in the country. It is also being expanded abroad. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched UPI One World wallet service for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and international travelers visiting the country. This will allow those travelers who do not have an Indian bank account to access UPI and make payments.
NPCI has started this service in collaboration with IDFC First Bank and Transcorp International Limited under the guidance of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). NPCI said that travelers visiting the country with UPI One World Wallet will be able to make digital payments to merchants in a secure manner. In this, foreign travelers and NRIs will have to download a prepaid payment instrument – UPI app. With this, they will be able to make payments by scanning the QR code of the merchants using their smartphone’s camera.
This service can be used by merchants and hotels as well as for online shopping and travel booking. UPI is being expanded rapidly abroad also. Recently this QR based service was launched in United Arab Emirates (UAE). For this, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has tied up with Network International. UPI payments can be made through more than two lakh point-of-sale (POS) terminals of Network International in UAE. NIPL said that with this, Indian tourists and NRIs in UAE will be able to make payments securely by just scanning the QR code. It will be accepted at Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall and other retail stores.
Network International has more than 60,000 merchants associated with it across retail, hospitality, transport and other sectors. Digital payments have increased rapidly since the introduction of UPI. With this, users can easily transfer payments from their smartphones. According to RBI data, the value of transactions done through UPI has increased by about 137 percent in the last two years to about Rs 200 lakh crore. This payment service has also been started in Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
