India In Talks With New Zealand To Introduce UPI In The Island Country

SUMMARY

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is in talks with Payments NZ for introduction of UPI in New Zealand

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his counterpart Damien O'Connor, during a meeting, said introduction of UPI would promote ease of doing business between the countries

While countries like Bhutan, Nepal, and UAE have already adopted UPI, India is also in talks with many other countries for introduction of the payments system

As part of its attempts to make the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) global, India is now in talks with New Zealand to introduce the homegrown payments system in the country to improve the ease of doing business, and trade and tourism between the two.

The matter was discussed during a bilateral meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor, as per a joint statement.

“Ministers welcomed early discussions between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Payments NZ regarding the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system and agreed that both sides should continue deliberations on this issue. They agreed that introduction of UPI in New Zealand would promote ease of doing business between both the countries and promote trade and tourism as well,” the statement said.

It is important to note that India, as part of its trade relationship with New Zealand, imports logs and forestry products, wool and edible fruit and nuts, wood pulp, among others, from the country while exporting precious metals and gems, textiles, and motor vehicles, and more.

Besides, Indian students comprise the second-largest number of international students in New Zealand.

Digital payments in India have grown by leaps and bounds since the launch of UPI. Over the last few years, the Centre has signed pacts with different nations for usage of UPI to improve cross border payments and facilitate trading and tourism.

In 2022, NPCI’s international arm signed an MoU with France-based Lyra Network for the country to accept UPI and RuPay Cards. In July this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India and France agreed to use UPI.

Meanwhile, Bhutan, Nepal, UAE, and Canada have also adopted the UPI system in their countries.

NPCI’s international arm is also in talks to extend the UPI services to the US, other European countries, and West Asia.

India’s UPI transactions almost reached the 1,000 Cr mark in the month of July, rising over 6.6% month-on-month (MoM) to 996 Cr. If compared with the last year, the number of transactions jumped 58% from 628 Cr in July 2022.