India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment system will soon be available in France.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this on Thursday. PM Modi said that India and France have agreed to use UPI in this European nation, opening a huge new market for Indian innovation.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is India’s mobile-based payment system and allows people to make round-the-clock payments through a virtual payment address created by the customer.
While addressing the Indian community at the La Seine Musicale, a performing arts centre on an island in river Seine, Modi said very soon Indian tourists will be able to make rupee payments using UPI from atop the Eiffel Tower.
“In France, an agreement has been made for the use of India’s UPI…It will be started from the Eiffel Tower, and now Indian tourists would be able to make payments in Rupees, through UPI, in the Eiffel Tower,” the prime minister said.
“Be it India’s UPI or other digital platforms, they have brought a huge social transformation in the country and I am happy that India and France are also working together in direction. India and France have agreed to use UPI in France. I will leave after the agreement. However, it is your job to move forward. Friends, in the coming days its beginning will be made from Eiffel Tower which means that Indian tourists will now be able to make payments in Rupees, through UPI, at Eiffel Tower,” Modi said while addressing the Indian community at La Seine Musicale in Paris.
In 2022, the National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation that offers UPI services, signed an MoU with France’s own fast and secure online payment system, called Lyra.
Earlier this year, India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow signed an agreement paving the way for users in the two countries to make seamless, real-time, and secure cross-border transactions.
NPCI is also in talks with other countries in the USA, Europe, and West Asia to extend UPI services.
As per RBI data, UPI transactions stood at Rs 139.2 trillion in FY23 or about 73 percent of all non-cash transactions in India in 2022. According to a PwC report, daily transactions are likely to reach 1 billion by 2026–2027, accounting for about 90 percent of all non-cash transactions.
Modi was received by Prime Minister Borne at the airport in a special gesture. A ceremonial welcome and Guard of honour were accorded to Prime Minister Modi upon his arrival at the airport.
