The linkage will allow users of any payment system in the respective countries to transfer funds on a reciprocal basis without joining other networks, the Indian central bank said in a press release on Monday. RBI said the project is being targeted for operation by July 2022.
“The UPI-Penau linkage is an important milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore, and closely aligns with the G20’s financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments. connected to.” Central bank.
During the last year, NIPL, a subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for international payments, has tied up with countries like UAE, Bhutan and Japan to launch UPI and RuPay acceptance points in these jurisdictions.
RBI further said that the move to link Indian and Singapore fast payment systems will create cross border interoperability in transactions through QR codes and cards, thereby promoting anchor trade, travel and remittance flows between the two countries.
The central bank said the initiative is also in line with the RBI’s vision to review corridors and charges for cross-border remittances outlined in the Payment Systems Vision Document 2019-21.
PayNow is Singapore’s fast payment system that enables a peer-to-peer fund transfer service available to retail customers through participating banks and non-bank financial institutions (NFIs) in Singapore. It enables users to send and receive funds instantly from one bank or e-wallet account in Singapore to another bank in Singapore using just their mobile number, Singapore NRIC/FIN, or VPA.
UPI, on the other hand, is India’s mobile-based, ‘fast payment’ system that allows customers to make payments round the clock using a virtual payment address (VPA) created by the customer. UPI supports both person to person (P2P) and person to merchant (P2M) payments as well as it enables the user to send or receive money.
Payment Rail, developed and launched by NPCI in 2016, has emerged as one of the fastest growing payment systems in the world. In August, UPI processed 3.55 billion or 355 crore transactions worth Rs 6,39,116 crore – a record.