NPCI Takes UPI & RuPay Payments To Europe

NPCI’s international arm NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) has partnered with France-based digital payment company Worldline to launch unified payments interface (UPI) and RuPay payments in Europe.

With this, Worldline becomes the first European company to offer UPI and RuPay to European merchants and Indian natives travelling to Europe. It will further bring more convenience to Indian customers travelling to European countries by permitting merchants’ PoS systems to accept transactions made via UPI and RuPay. This will, in turn, increase customer footfall and spending from Indian tourists.

According to the company, Worldline’s digital QR-based payments will first offer Indian digital payment products UPI and RuPay in BENELUX and Switzerland. It will be further launched in other countries in Europe.

“Our analyses of international customers’ payment behaviour have indicated a push away from international card schemes in recent times, and a preference for any mobile payment method they are acquainted. Our partnership with NPCI International seeks to mitigate the risk of excluding or limiting Indian customers from safely using electronic payments in the EU,” said Marc-Henri Desportes, deputy CEO of Worldline.

According to Schengen Visa, India is one of the prime tourist markets for Europe with an estimated 10 Mn Indians travelling to European countries every year prior to the COVID pandemic. As the impact of the pandemic subsided, the number of Indian tourists travelling to Europe is expected to increase significantly.

At present, Indian tourists pay via international card networks. With the presence of UPI, multiple bank accounts will become accessible through a mobile-based app. This will, in turn, improve customer experience and also open new business prospects for European merchants.

“In Worldline, we found a partner that provides us with good coverage in the European markets and an advanced and universally applicable solution. The launch of UPI-enabled apps and RuPay cards across Europe is important to us as we expect increased mobility of Indians in the continent in the coming years,” said Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL. 

Founded in 1974, Worldline is a listed digital payment services platform. It has an employee headcount of 18K, and has a presence in 40 countries. It offers various digital services including instore and online commercial acquiring, secured payment transaction processing, among others. It claims to have clocked a revenue of nearly $3.8 Bn in 2021.

Talking about the UPI transactions, in September, the NPCI-led digital payment interface recorded 678 Cr transactions worth INR 11.16 Lakh Cr. The number of UPI transactions during last month increased by 3.2% as compared to 657 Cr transactions recorded in August.

So far in 2022, the total UPI transaction volume is pegged at INR 89.10 Lakh Cr ($1.09 Tn). It is prudent to note that it’s the first time that the UPI volume has surpassed the $1 Tn mark since its inception (2016).