NEW DELHI: India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday, February 21, launched cross-border connectivity between the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore.
By using Google Pay, Paytm, and other comparable digital payment systems, Indians would be able to send money quickly, cheaply, and round-the-clock to Singaporeans and vice versa.
Singapore offers a PayNow system, similar to UPI. With a cellphone number, consumers can transfer money between bank or e-wallet accounts. Participating banks and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs) throughout the nation enable this peer-to-peer payments connectivity.
How can the UPI-PayNow connection be beneficial?: Cross-border payments are typically pricey. Fund transfers utilising mobile phone numbers from India to Singapore will be possible thanks to the UPI-Pay Now integration, and vice versa using UPI virtual payment addresses.
Individuals in both nations will be able to send money in real-time via QR codes or just by entering their cell phone numbers and bank account information.
It will make it possible for users of two quick payment systems to transfer money instantaneously without switching to the other system.
The project is anticipated to have a significant positive impact on the Indian diaspora, particularly migrant workers and students in Singapore, as it enables quicker and more affordable money transfers between the two nations.
Singapore is one of India's top four inbound reremittance markets, according to the RBI Remittance Survey, 2021.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the connectivity will be a crucial turning point in the creation of Singapore's and India's next-generation cross-border payment infrastructure. The G20's aims for financial inclusion, which include promoting quicker, less expensive, and more transparent cross-border payments, will also be closely aligned with this.
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