India To Link UPI To Ghana’s Interbank System In Next Six Months

SUMMARY

Both countries have agreed to “expeditiously” operationalise the homegrown UPI on Ghana’s interbank payment and settlement systems in the next six months

The two sides also discussed the possibility of signing an MoU on digital transformation solutions, among other things

Just days ago, NPCI’s international arm, NIPL, signed a pact with the Bank of Namibia to develop a digital payments system for the African nation akin to UPI

India and Ghana have agreed to “expeditiously” operationalise the homegrown unified payments interface (UPI) on Ghana interbank payment and settlement systems (GHIPSS) in the next six months.

The discussion was a part of the joint trade committee meeting between the two countries in Accra between May 2 and 3.

“Both sides agreed to work expeditiously towards the operationalization of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of National Payments Corporation of (NPCI) on Ghana’s Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) within a period of 6 months,” said an official government statement.

The two sides also discussed the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on digital transformation solutions, among other things. Both India and Ghana also identified multiple focus areas such as digital economy and digital infrastructure for enhancing bilateral trade.

The seven-member official delegation from India was also accompanied by representatives from the local fintech sector.

With this, Ghana has become the latest country looking to jump on the UPI bandwagon. In September last year, it was reported that the Indian government was in talks with multiple South American and African countries to introduce UPI and RuPay cards in these countries.

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw last year had said that India has signed MoUs with as many as 30 countries across the globe for deploying the UPI stack.

Just days ago, NPCI’s international arm NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) signed a pact with the Bank of Namibia to develop a digital payments system for the African nation akin to UPI.

Recently, reports also surfaced that the NPCI and multiple Indian and US banks were in advanced talks to establish a real-time payment linkage between the two countries.

Besides, multiple nations including the likes Sri Lanka, France, Mauritius, Bhutan, Nepal, the UAE and Canada have already deployed the payments infrastructure in their countries in some form or other.

The developments come at a time when UPI continues to clock record numbers. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das recently said that India accounted for 46% of the global digital transactions due to UPI.

In April, the digital payments network logged 1,330 Cr transactions worth over INR 19.6 Lakh Cr.