In a boost to the Unified Payments Interface, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have announced a project to link their respective fast payment systems — UPI and PayNow.
“The linkage is targeted for operationalisation by July 2022,” the RBI said on Tuesday.
The UPI-PayNow linkage will enable users of each of the two fast payment systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis without a need to get onboarded onto the other payment system, it further said.
PayNow is the fast payment system of Singapore which enables peer-to-peer funds transfer service, available to retail customers through participating banks and non-bank financial institutions (NFIs) in Singapore. It enables users to send and receive instant funds from one bank or e-wallet account to another in Singapore by using just their mobile number, Singapore NRIC/FIN, or VPA.
The technology-led payments revolution
The linkage builds upon the earlier efforts of NPCI International Private Limited and Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) to foster cross-border interoperability of payments using cards and QR codes, between India and Singapore and will further anchor trade, travel and remittance flows between the two countries.