Paris: On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his country had reached an agreement with France to implement the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in this European nation.
Modi recently announced that Indian tourists will soon be able to use UPI to make rupee payments at the Eiffel Tower, when addressing the Indian community at the La Seine Musicale, a performing arts institution on an island in the river Seine.
"An agreement to use India's UPI has been reached in France.The prime minister announced that the programme would begin at the Eiffel Tower so that Indian visitors may use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to make payments in Indian Rupees.
UPI's parent company, India's National Payments Corporation (NPCI), inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lyra, France's quick and secure online payment system, in 2022.
To facilitate international trade, UPI and PayNow of Singapore formed an agreement in 2023.
UPI has already been accepted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bhutan, and Nepal.
NPCI International is now in discussions to expand UPI services to additional countries in the Americas, Europe, and West Asia.
Modi also announced that during the next few weeks or months, a statue of the famous Tamil philosopher Thiruvalluvar will be built in the Cergy Prefecture, to cries of "Modi, Modi" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai."
Modi said that graduate students in France will now be eligible for five-year visas.
As India rapidly advances towards becoming a developed nation, the Prime Minister has urged the Indian community to invest heavily in the country.
“Today every rating agency is saying that India is a bright spot. You invest in India now. This is the opportune time. Those who invest early will reap benefits,” Modi said.
Modi also reflected on his personal history with France, which he said dated back at least four decades to when he became the first member of the Alliance Francaise Centre in Ahmedabad.
My love for France is very old, and I know it will never fade. The prime minister of India remarked, "Roughly forty years ago, a French cultural centre was established in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and the very first member of that centre is here with us today."
Modi has said that India is the cradle of democracy and the cradle of cultural variety.
This is one of our greatest advantages. More than one hundred languages and one thousand sub-dialects are spoken in India. The prime minister boasted that more than 32,000 newspapers were published in these languages every day. —Inputs from Agencies

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his country had reached an agreement with France to implement the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in this European nation.

Agreement reached for using India's UPI in France: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded UPI transactions crossing the 10 billion mark in August.  “This is exceptional news! It is a testament to the people of India embracing digital progress and a tribute to their skills. May this trend continue in the times to come,” the PM said in a comment on X (formerly Twitter).  He was responding to a tweet by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which said, “It’s 10 Billion+ transactions in August`23! Make seamless payments from your mobile in real-time with UPI.”
UPI transactions touched 10.58 billion in August, while the amount transacted during the month was Rs 15.76 lakh crore. There has been a 61 per cent year on year growth on transaction count, while in terms of transaction amount, there has been a 47 per cent year on year growth between August 2022 and August 2023.  NPCI is an umbrella organisation for all retail payments in the country.
—IANS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded UPI transactions crossing the 10 billion mark in August. “This is exceptional news! It is a testament to the people of India embracing digital progress and a tribute to their skills. May this trend continue in the times to come,” the PM said in a comment on X (formerly Twitter).

PM Modi lauds UPI transactions crossing 10bn mark in August

New Delhi: On Wednesday, the National Payments Clearing Corporation (NPCI) introduced a number of new payment features for the widely used UPI platform, including conversational transactions.
The goods were declared to be released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) at the ongoing Global Fintech Festival, presided over by Governor Shaktikanta Das of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Hello! UPI is one of the offerings, and it will provide voice-enabled UPI payments in Hindi and English via mobile apps, telecom calls, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It's now being translated into a number of additional regional languages.—Inputs from Agencies

On Wednesday, the National Payments Clearing Corporation (NPCI) introduced a number of new payment features for the widely used UPI platform, including conversational transactions.

NPCI launches new products; users can now make voice-enabled UPI payments

Abu Dhabi [UAE]: India's National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) signed an agreement with UAE's Al Etihad Payments to provide real-time and cost-effective cross-border remittances. This MoU will facilitate the users of both the countries which would be as seamless as a domestic transaction using a beneficiary identifier (mobile number/VPA).
<img src="https://thehawk.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/npci1.webp" alt="MoU domestic transaction" style="height: auto;width: auto"/>
The agreement also aims to enhance the transparency for the users through upfront display of remittance amount in both the currencies with applicable charges. Among the salient feature of the agreement is integrating Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and Instant Payments Platform (IPP) of the UAE, to process cross-border transactions between the two countries more efficiently. Another feature would be Interlinking card switches of the two countries - RuPay switch and UAESWITCH to facilitate the mutual acceptance of their domestic cards and processing of card transactions directly without relying on any other network The linkage of card switches shall enable the card holders to use their domestic cards (without a need to have global cards issued) in each other's jurisdiction on a reciprocal basis on ATMs, PoS terminals and for e-com transactions, as per the agreement It further adds, the linkage of messaging platforms shall reduce dependency on multilateral systems like SWIFT. This shall not only be cost-effective but would also provide a comfort to both the countries in view of present geo-political situation. The agreement was signed on Thursday in the presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) along with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) have been engaging with the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for linking of fast payment systems (FPS) and bilateral acceptance of domestic cards between India and the UAE. Following several rounds of discussions in this regard, including a meeting between RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das and Governor of CBUAE Khaled Mohammed Salem Balama Al Tameemi in January this year, CBUAE shared a draft for collaboration on linkages of fast payment systems, cards, and messaging systems. There are approximately 3.5 million Indian expatriates living in the UAE, remitting a total of USD 20 billion annually to India. Nearly, 2.3 million Indian expatriates work in blue collar jobs. This demographic in the UAE is underbanked and financially excluded from mainstream banking. This creates a unique corridor of opportunity between India and the UAE for various digital solutions in the area of digital payments connecting Indian diaspora in the UAE, as well as their families in India.
—ANI

India's National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) signed an agreement with UAE's Al Etihad Payments to provide real-time

India's NPCI sign agreement with UAE's Etihad Payments to provide cost-effective cross-border remittances

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday it has asked the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to examine a request from Paytm, formally known as One 97 Communications, to become a third party application provider (TPAP).
If approved, this would allow Paytm to continue processing payments via India's popular unified payments interface (UPI), but will need a set of newly identified banks to back the app.  The NPCI should facilitate four to five banks, with an ability to process high volumes of UPI payments, to act as service providers to Paytm, the RBI said of Friday.  "No new users are to be added by the said TPAP until all the existing users are migrated satisfactorily to a new handle," the RBI said.
Last month, the central bank asked Paytm Payments Bank, an associate of Paytm, to wind down its business by March 15, leading to disruption for the popular payment app, which used the banking unit at the back end.  Paytm is the third largest app for UPI payments in the country, processing 1.6 billion monthly transactions, according to data available on the NPCI website. PhonePe and Google Pay are the two largest.  To keep Paytm QR codes running, the company may open settlement accounts with one or more banks, the RBI said.  Paytm said last week it had signed on Axis Bank to act as a banking partner.
—PTI

RBI asks NPCI to assess Paytm's TPAP request for UPI payments. If approved, Paytm needs new bank partners for processing.

RBI moves to ensure continuity of UPI transactions on Paytm

Mumbai: Digital payments firm Paytm, formally known as One 97 Communications, was on Thursday granted a third-party application provider license by India's payments authority, which will enable it to facilitate payments after its banking unit ceases operations.
The license will allow customers to continue using the Paytm app for payments through India's popular unified payment interface (UPI), after Paytm Payments Bank ceases operations by March 15, following regulatory action due to non-compliance with certain norms.  Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Yes Bank will act as payment system provider banks to Paytm, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said in a statement.
Yes Bank shall also act as a merchant acquiring bank for existing and new UPI merchants for Paytm, it added.  Paytm has been advised to complete the migration for all existing handles and mandates, wherever required, to new payment system provider banks at the earliest, the NPCI said.  UPI is India's real-time payments system that allows users to transfer money across banks.  Paytm, the third-largest app for UPI payments in the country, processed 1.41 billion monthly transactions worth 1.65 trillion rupees in February, down from 1.57 billion transactions worth 1.93 trillion in January, according to data on the NPCI website.  PhonePe and Google Pay are the two largest UPI payment apps in India.  Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked the NPCI to examine a request from Paytm to become a third-party application provider.  Early this week, Reuters was the first to report that the NCPI was likely to approve a third-party application provider (TPAP) license for Paytm.
—Reuters

Paytm granted TPAP license by NPCI, facilitating seamless UPI payments after Paytm Bank's closure. Axis, HDFC, SBI, Yes Bank to back operations, ensuring continued service excellence.

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Agreement reached for using India's UPI in France: PM Modi

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Agreement reached for using India's UPI in France: PM Modi

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