India's UPI to be used in France: PM Modi
India's flagship instant payment system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), will now be used in France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while addressing the Indian diaspora in France on Thursday. This will expand the market horizons for UPI and reduce the dependence on forex cards and cash. PM Modi said the service will start from the Eiffel Tower, allowing Indian tourists to pay in Rupees.
Digital platforms have brought huge social transformation: PM Modi
NPCI plans to expand UPI to Europe, US, West Asia
In 2022, the National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI), the developer of UPI, signed an agreement with France's secure online payment system, Lyra. It aims to expand UPI to Europe, West Asia, and the United States (US). India also signed an agreement with Singapore's PayNow in February 2023 to allow cross-border transactions. Bhutan, Nepal, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have already adopted UPI.
UPI accounted for 75% of India's transaction volume in 2022-23
UPI allows users to link multiple accounts of the same or different banks to a single mobile application, facilitating inter-bank peer-to-peer as well as peer-to-merchant transactions. The interface also allows users to request and schedule payments at their convenience. A PwC India report in May showed UPI accounted for around 75% of the total transaction volume in the retail segment in 2022-23.
1 billion transactions per day by 2026-27: PwC India report
The NPCI conducted UPI's pilot launch in April 2016 with 21 member banks. Currently, there are 458 banks connected to UPI, and the total value of transactions done through it is pegged at Rs. 14.75 lakh crore. The PwC India report projected UPI transactions to account for 90% of retail digital payments by 2026-2027, with one billion transactions per day.
