United Payments Interface (UPI) will soon be expanded to Maldives, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to Maldives took to X (formerly known as Twitter) where he said that India and Maldives have signed an agreement to introduce the Unified Payments Interface in the archipelago nation.
“Witnessed signing of MoU between (the) National Payments Corporation of India and (the) Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Maldives on (the) introduction of (a) digital payment system in the Maldives,” he said in a post on X.
Addressing a press conference with his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer after their “productive discussions”, Jaishankar said that India, through its UPI, has “revolutionised digital transactions”.
“We see this revolution, every day in our lives. I am pleased to note that with the signing of the MoU today, we have taken the first step towards bringing this digital innovation to Maldives.”
“I wish the very best to stakeholders on both sides and hope that we will soon see the first UPI transaction here. I should mention that it will have a very positive impact on tourism,” he added.
List of countries where UPI is accepted
UPI has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It is an instant real-time payment system that facilitates inter-bank transactions through mobile phones.At present, 7 countries accept UPI. These are
Bhutan
France (E-commerce)
Mauritius
Nepal
Singapore
Sri Lanka
UAE
In another development, the NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) achieved a major milestone by surpassing 100,000 cross-border UPI Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions in Nepal. NIPL is an international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
