NPCI Plans To Take UPI To Myanmar

[Abhishek012]

NPCI Plans To Take UPI To Myanmar​

NPCI subsidiary NPCI International (NIPL) and Kansas-based fintech company Euronet have submitted a joint bid to the Central Bank of Myanmar for building the country’s proposed Real-Time Retail Payments System

NPCI has been eyeing the Asian market as Singapore, Malaysia, Bhutan and the UAE are looking to build digital payments networks

In November last year, the FICCI had signed an agreement with the Singapore Fintech Association to take UPI to overseas markets

Buoyed by the success of its Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which is on course to clock 2 Bn transactions this month, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is exploring opportunities for exporting the technology overseas.

NPCI subsidiary NPCI International (NIPL) and Kansas-based fintech company Euronet have submitted a joint bid to the Central Bank of Myanmar for building the country’s proposed real-time Retail Payments System, as well as a QR Code Generation and Repository System.

NPCI has, of late, been eyeing the Asian market where several countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Bhutan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) look to build the requisite digital infrastructure to facilitate quick and efficient digital payments.

However, sources told Economic Times that NPCI’s bid could face competition from global payments giants such as Visa and Mastercard, who have apparently shown an interest in the project.

It is worth noting that NPCI had last year forayed into the Singapore digital payments market.

In November last year, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) had signed an agreement with the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) to take UPI global. The implementation of UPI in Singapore is expected to solve the scarcity of payments options for Indians travelling abroad due to currency conversion and non-availability of credit or debit cards.

NPCI has been working with Singapore’s Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) to jointly implement UPI-based QR code payments terminals at various points of interest, including airport terminals in Singapore.

In August this year, NPCI incorporated its subsidiary, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) to popularise digital payments technologies such as UPI and RuPay cards platform abroad.

I also heard NPCI in talks with Australia, France and Canada for cross-border Instant UPI payment in the first phase, UPI International will start working after 2022 or 2023. Through this, the charges on payments made in other countries are also expected to decrease. The pilot project will be started soon after fixing the terms with other countries.