PhonePe pushes the limits: Now supporting cross-border UPI payments

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PhonePe pushes the limits: Now supporting cross-border UPI payments (Image: phonepe.com)
PhonePe pushes the limits: Now supporting cross-border UPI payments (Image: phonepe.com)

Delhi : The Indian company PhonePe, which specialises in financial technology and digital payments, has begun to support UPI International cross-border payments. Users of the apps can now pay at merchant locations in the UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal, and Bhutan using their Indian bank accounts. Users from India had to use either foreign currency in cash or through a forex card in the past.

With this, the digital payment platform integrated UPI International for the first time in its category.

Users would now be able to make international debit card-like payments directly from their bank accounts in foreign currencies, according to PhonePe.

The Indian diaspora abroad can conduct UPI transactions thanks to UPI International, which was launched by the cross-border division of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI International Payments Limited).

Over the course of 2023, NPCI intends to expand the use of UPI International.

The Bhutan Live cited Rahul Chari, the CTO and co-founder of PhonePe, as saying, "The first significant step in allowing the rest of the world to experience UPI is UPI International. I have no doubt that this launch will completely change how Indians who travel abroad pay at merchant establishments abroad."

According to NPCI data as of December 2022, PhonePe handled 367.42 billion transactions worth 6.39 lakh crore rupees. The figures represented 47% of all UPI transactions and 50% of the total transaction value in December 2022.

The most recent changes coincide with a rise in interest for the government's payments system on a global scale. India is already negotiating for UPI with about 30 other countries, according to Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Electronics and IT.

The Reserve Bank of India recently announced that it has proposed to allow all incoming travellers to India to use UPI for their merchant payments while they are in the nation in light of the system's popularity.

While considering the conclusions of the recently concluded three-day meeting of the monetary policy committee, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das made the announcement.

Das said, "This facility will initially be made available to G-20 travellers arriving at specific international airports.

In India, the UPI payments system has become incredibly popular for retail digital payments, and adoption is growing quickly.