NPCI Partners Network International To Bolster UPI Payments In UAE

Continuing its international expansion, the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) international arm NIPL has now partnered with the UAE-based Network International to fuel Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments in the Middle Eastern country. 

Under the partnership, QR code-based UPI payments will now be enabled at Network’s point-of-sale (PoS) terminals in the UAE for Indian tourists and NRIs with Indian bank accounts. 

The UAE-based company claims to be the leading enabler of digital commerce in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, and has presence in the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, among others. 

In a statement, the NPCI said that UPI payments will be rolled out steadily in retail stores, dining outlets, as well as tourist and leisure attractions including Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates. 

“Our partnership with Network International will deepen UPI’s presence in the UAE. By growing UPI payment acceptance across merchants in the UAE, we are not only providing Indian travellers with a seamless and familiar payment experience, but also promoting the use of innovative digital payment solutions internationally,” said NPIL CEO Ritesh Shukla.

This comes over four months after India and the UAE signed an agreement to link UPI with the UAE’s FPS AANI. The development came on the sidelines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching RuPay card services during his trip to the UAE in February. 

At the time, the two countries also signed an agreement to inter-link domestic debit/credit cards – RuPay from India and JAYWAN from the UAE – to enhance the universal acceptance of RuPay across the Middle Eastern country. 

The development also comes days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) partnered with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and central banks from Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to link the countries’ respective Fast Payment Systems (FPS) with UPI. 

The payments body has also tied up with Peru, Ghana, and Namibia in recent times to fuel the adoption of the homegrown payments infrastructure. 

Last year, the RBI also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) to jointly conduct proof-of-concept and pilot(s) of bilateral central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to facilitate cross-border remittance transactions.