Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the UPI-PayNow linkage between India and Singapore has started a new chapter of cross-border fintech connectivity.


Modi and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong witnessed the launch of the linkage of cross-border connectivity between the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore.


“The launch of the UPI-PayNow linkage (between India and Singapore) is a gift to the citizens of the two countries, which they were waiting for eagerly. I congratulate the people of both India and Singapore for this,” said Modi during the launch, according to the news agency ANI.





"In today's era, technology connects us to each other in several ways. Fintech is a sector that connects people to each other. Normally, it is confined within the boundaries of one country. But today's launch has started a new chapter of cross-border Fintech connectivity,” added Modi at the virtual launch.


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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das and Ravi Menon, managing director, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) opened the linkage through video conferencing on Tuesday.


To begin with, the State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank, and ICICI Bank will facilitate both inward and outward remittances while Axis Bank and DBS India will facilitate inward remittances.


For Singapore users, the service will be made available through DBS-Singapore and Liquid Group (a non-bank financial institution). More number of banks will be included in the linkage over time


The PayNow-UPI linkage will enable users to make instant, low-cost fund transfers directly from one bank account to another between Singapore and India. When implemented, fund transfers can be made from India to Singapore using mobile phone numbers, and from Singapore to India using UPI virtual payment addresses (VPA), a Singapore press statement said.


To begin with, an Indian user can remit up to Rs60,000 in a day (equivalent to around SGD 1,000).


It will also help the Indian diaspora in Singapore, especially migrant workers and students, through instantaneous, and low-cost transfer of money from Singapore to India and vice-versa, the statement added.


In September 2021, the MAS and the RBI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to link Singapore’s PayNow and India’s UPI real-time payment systems.


MAS Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty, on the sidelines of the G20 First Working Group’s meeting on financial inclusion in Kolkata, said that the implementation of the project will bring down the cost of sending remittances by as much as 10 per cent. He also added that data-sharing regulations, cost barriers for adoption, and legal hurdles are bigger than technological challenges.


Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw last week said India has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with 13 countries that want to adopt the UPI for digital payments.


The global partnerships for UPI adoption have come through as the NIPL (NPCI International Payments Limited). NIPL was incorporated in April 2020 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), devoted to the deployment of RuPay and UPI outside of India.


Expert Views


Mushraaf Hussain, COO, Ezeepay


In India, the UPI payment systems are increasingly being used for digital payments, and their prominence is expanding rapidly. This is largely due to its simplicity, reliability, and wide acceptance among the masses. The initiation of UPI International is a significant step in attempting to bring UPI to the rest of the world, as it would provide ample opportunities to the users and people who are travelling overseas. From my perception, I have no doubt that this launch will completely alter how Indian tourists pay at merchant establishments in other nations. Furthermore, the UPI International, which will be implemented in Singapore and other G20 nations, will be advantageous to students who pursue their education in Singapore. Also, with UPI introducing additional amounts up to 7400 crores valued at Rs 126 lakh crore in 2022, the emergence of UPI International reinforces the claim made in the 2023 Union Budget that underscores the steadily increasing acceptance of digital payment transactions.


Rashid Ali, MD, Ezeepay


India's adoption of the UPI payment system has completely changed the country's financial landscape, and this only serves to demonstrate to the rest of the world that India is a leader in technological innovation. Because of UPI's simplicity, speed, security, and convenience, it has gained popularity across the nation. We gratefully accept the official statement of the Indian government that G20 visitors will soon be able to pay in India using UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and simultaneously. The users will be able to pay vendors, send money, and complete other transactions in India as a result. The government did well by highlighting the nation's digital advancement.