Page 58 - Mann Ki Baat - English, February,2023

Envisioning UPI's Global Serviceability

seconds. This is similar to the user
experience of transferring money
within the country. Second is
security. Beneficiary account
validation ensures payment to
the intended recipient. There is
no need for the recipient to share
his/her bank details to the sender
to send money.
Third is convenience.
Indian consumers can now
receive money directly from
Dilip Asbe Singapore through UPI ID and
Indian consumers can send
Managing Director & CEO money to Singapore using the
National Payments Corporation mobile number/Virtual Payment
Address (VPA) of the recipient.
of India (NPCI)
Fourth is cost, as the average cost
of the cross-border remittances
from Singapore to India would
be considerably lesser than the
The announcement of prevailing market prices.
the linkage of India’s Unified India has witnessed a
Payments Interface (UPI) paradigm shift in its digital
with Singapore’s PayNow is a landscape with the introduction
watershed moment for cross- of UPI in 2016. UPI has become the
border transactions, not only most popular digital payment
for the two countries but for the method in India. If we look at
entire globe. UPI-PayNow linkage some facts, the total number of
will aid fast, hassle-free, secure, UPI transactions increased from
real-time P2P remittances and 0.1 billion in December 2016 to 75
cut cross-border transaction billion in February 2023. The total
fees, boosting digital connectivity value of UPI transactions also
and interoperability. increased from Rs. 1.9 billion in
The linkage is a significant December 2016 to Rs. 12.36 trillion
milestone in the development of in February 2023.
an infrastructure for cross-border As per recent data available,
payments, which closely aligns India received over USD 100 billion
with the G20’s financial inclusion from expats working overseas.
priorities of driving faster, cheaper India has been a consistent
and more transparent cross- number one player in inward
border payments. The benefits remittances globally. Outward
are manifold. First is speed, as remittances are growing and
the money gets remitted across have a promising future. This
the border using the real-time space is fragmented and runs on
payment systems in a few dated infrastructure. Positioning

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