UPI Payments Expanded to UAE in Partnership With Network International

Digital payment service Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is expanding rapidly abroad. This QR based service has been launched in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). For this, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has tied up with Network International.

Through Network International’s over 200,000 point-of-sale (POS) terminals in the UAE UPI Payments can be made. 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 Emirates, Dubai Mall and other retail stores. CEO of NPCI International, Ritesh Shukla said, “With the arrival of UPI in UAE, Indian tourists will get the facility to make payments easily. Along with this, the use of innovative digital payment solutions abroad will also increase.”

Network International has more than 60,000 merchants associated with retail, hospitality, transport and other sectors. Digital payments have grown rapidly since the introduction of UPI. This allows users to 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.

Nepal was the first country to accept UPI payments outside India. After this, this payment service was also launched in Sri Lanka, Mauritius and France. India’s bilateral economic relations with Sri Lanka and Mauritius are getting stronger. RuPay card service has also been launched in Mauritius. This will make UPI service available to Indians traveling to Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Prime Minister Modi had described it as connecting historical relations with modern digital technology. He had said that UPI has taken on a new responsibility to unite allies with India. The scope of digital rupee has also increased in the country. This has made it easier for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to achieve its target of 10 lakh transactions per day by the end of last year. At the end of last year, some public and private banks transferred the amount related to employee benefit schemes to the CBDC wallets of employees.