Qatar Will See Full UPI Roll Out Soon: Indian Ambassador

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is reportedly slated for a “full rollout” in Qatar “soon”.

As per Moneycontrol, India’s ambassador to the Middle Eastern nation, Vipul, who only goes by his first name, said that the integration of the homegrown payments infrastructure with Qatar National Bank (QNB) is complete. He said that the service is all set for a mass launch soon.

“Qatar will soon see the full rollout of UPI. The integration with QNB is complete, testing is done, and the launch has already taken place. This is a significant step in enhancing digital payments between our countries,” Vipul said.

The partnership is expected to simplify financial transactions for the Indian diaspora in the Gulf nation and further deepen fintech collaboration between the two countries.

This follows UPI’s integration with QNB’s point-of-sale (PoS) systems in July last year.

The ambassador also said that the two nations are strengthening their engagement in areas of startups and innovation, adding that Qatar could provide financial backing for budding Indian new-age tech ventures.

“India has that talent pool, the focus on technology, the startup space, which is very big with 150,000 startups. And Qatar has the financing as well as the ecosystem for startups. Indian startups can validate their business models with the benefits Qatar provides,” he added.

Noting that the country has already infused $1.5 Bn in India in sectors such as retail, renewable energy, IT, and education, Vipul added that another $10 Bn in investments from Qatar could flow into areas such as infrastructure, fintech, spacetech, among others.

The Indian ambassador was referring to the $10 Bn investment commitment announced by Qatar during the nation’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s recent visit to India in February.

UPI’s integration with the QNB comes nearly eight months after the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), NPCI International Payments Limited (NPIL), announced a partnership with QNB in July last year, which enabled Indian tourists to make UPI payments across QNB’s merchant network in Qatar.

The NPIL has been expanding the reach of India’s digital payment solution globally. In July last year, the NPCI also joined hands with Network International to facilitate UPI payments in the UAE. In the same month, the Reserve Bank of India and central banks of various countries, including Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand launched ‘Project Nexus’ to link UPI with their Fast Payment Systems to ease making cross border payments.

The NPCI has also signed similar pacts with Ghana and other African nations to develop and increase the adoption of UPI linked payments.