India is actively engaging with countries in Africa and South America to assist them in developing digital payment systems modeled on its Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) aims to facilitate two international launches by early 2027, with ongoing discussions in multiple regions, including Rwanda.
The overseas division of NPCI, known as NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), is in talks with several nations and is close to finalizing an agreement with one of them, according to NIPL CEO Ritesh Shukla. NPCI, a public non-profit organization under India's central bank, oversees UPI, the country’s most popular digital payment platform, which saw its monthly transactions soar by 41% to nearly 15 billion in August.
NIPL was created to promote Indian payment systems abroad. As part of this mission, the organization has held discussions with at least 20 countries across Africa and South America to help them establish a UPI-like framework.
Earlier this year, NIPL signed agreements with the central banks of Peru and Namibia to develop real-time payment systems similar to UPI. These systems are expected to go live by late 2026 or early 2027.
Rwanda is among the nations where serious talks have occurred, though NIPL CEO Shukla declined to confirm the exact number of countries involved in the negotiations or provide specific details about Rwanda’s participation. The Bank of Rwanda did not respond to requests for comment.
In addition to assisting countries in creating payment systems, NIPL is working to connect UPI with other nations' real-time payment systems, such as Singapore’s PayNow. Currently, seven such links exist, and many more are in progress.
To support its growing international presence, NIPL plans to double its workforce from 60 members by March 2025. The organization will increase its overseas staffing, particularly in Singapore and the Middle East.
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