Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth will attend the launch via video conference.upOn February 12, Sri Lanka and Mauritius will welcome India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), expanding the number of nations where the system is either accepted or connected to a fast-payments network of its own.The launch will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth in attendance, video conferencing, at 1 PM on February 12. The respective central bank governors will also be present at the launch.
The launch will improve digital connectivity between the nations and benefit a broad range of people by enabling faster and more seamless digital transaction experiences, according to the ministry of external affairs.With the expansion of RuPay card services to Mauritius, Mauritian banks will be able to issue cards utilising the RuPay mechanism and make it easier for Indian and Mauritius residents to use these cards for settlements.
“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 Indian government stated in a statement on February 11.”With this launch, Indian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka and Mauritius as well as Mauritius nationals travelling to India will have access to UPI settlement services.” RuPay card services will be extended to Mauritius, allowing Mauritian banks to issue cards utilising the RuPay mechanism there and making it easier for users to use the RuPay card for settlements in both Mauritius and India,” the statement continued.
Prior to this, Lyra, a well-known French authority on proximity payments and e-commerce, and the NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) collaborated to launch UPI services in France.As a result of this partnership, the famous Eiffel Tower became the nation’s first retailer to accept UPI payments, streamlining the transaction process for visitors from India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced in July 2022 the establishment of a mechanism to settle global trade in rupees, as part of an effort to promote the use of the rupee and its payment systems worldwide. An agreement was signed in July of last year by India to connect the UPI with the UAE’s Instant Payment Platform, or IPP. That was shortly after Modi declared, while in France, that visitors from India will be able to use UPI to send money in rupees while standing atop the Eiffel Tower. Prior to that, in February, Singapore and India signed an agreement to connect UPI with PayNow, the fast payments system in Singapore. Talks are also ongoing with Latin American nations, including Indonesia.