NPCI to make UPI available in Saudi & other Gulf countries: Report

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is planning to take the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, reported Mint. As per the report, the discussions are in the early stage and most countries have shown interest.

To simplify transfering money cross-border, NPCI is trying to establish bank-to-bank transfer systems with the Gulf countries.

“NPCI is in initial discussions with a few Gulf countries for developing cross-border remittances using UPI, which will be primarily bank account-to-bank account transfers. The discussions have been facilitated by the Reserve Bank of India and other-country central bank collaboration, and by our Indian mission offices," said Dilip Asbe, NPCI managing director and chief executive told Mint.

Earlier this year, India and Singapore linked their national payments system. The systems were linked to provide a low-cost and safe-pathway for annual remittances of over $1 billion. In 2021, Bhutan became the first country to adopt UPI followed by Nepal in 2022. Earlier in January, NPCI allowed non-resident account types like NRE/NRO that have international mobile numbers in UPI.