Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong saw the launch of UPI-PayNow linkage between India and Singapore via video conferencing.
The cross-border connectivity was inaugurated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Ravi Menon.
Singaporeans can send money to India utilising the Unified Payments Interface of India from February 21. The cross-border connectivity link between UPI and PayNow in Singapore will allow citizens of both countries to make faster transfers with more cost-effective cross-border remittances.
PM Modi said, “Linkage of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow is a new milestone in India-Singapore relations,” PM Modi said, calling UPI “the most preferred payment mechanism” in India as “74 billion transactions amounting to more than ₹126 trillion were done through UPI in 2022.”
“Many experts are estimating that digital wallet transactions are going to soon overtake cash transactions,” he added further.
India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing fintech innovation hubs. The union finance ministry said in a statement that Prime Minister Modi’s visionary leadership has been important in promoting the globalisation of India’s best-in-class digital payment infrastructure.
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The integration of these two payment systems would allow residents of both countries to send cross-border remittances more quickly and at a lower cost, while also benefiting the Indian diaspora in Singapore, particularly migrant workers, and students, through instantaneous and low-cost money transfers from Singapore to India and vice versa.
Sandeep Patil – Partner, Head of Asia – QED Investors, says “UPI-Paynow connectivity is a brilliant advance in bringing together large-scale real-time payment networks. It can make seamless payments cost-effective and accessible to everyday consumers, such as students, tourists, and foreign workers. It will change the world of remittances.”
“More importantly, this partnership can provide a durable proof point to use real-time networks for promoting cross-border trade, commerce, and investments. The opportunities for businesses, consumers and investors to benefit are genuinely unprecedented!”
