The business that created the foundation for India’s digital payments intends to make it less expensive and simpler for the 32 million Indians who live abroad to send money back home. Thanks to The Economic Times for sharing this news.
Indians living abroad sent back $87 billion last year, the most any country the World Bank has been keeping track of. According to Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NPCI International Payments Ltd., the remittances industry is ripe for disruption because it costs $13 on average to move $200 across borders.
Shukla stated, “We have significantly reduced the use of cash in India and are attempting to replicate this achievement in cross-border corridors. We will establish acceptability for our instruments in the markets where Indians travel regularly, and overseas Indians may use our railroads to deposit money directly into their bank accounts.”
Shukla emphasized that the goal was not to replace current platforms, but rather to provide India with a homegrown alternative to SWIFT, the Belgian company that operates the cross-border payment system. A $3 trillion market for rapid digital transactions has been created in India thanks to the NPCI’s universal payment interface, which is used by over 330 institutions and 25 applications, including WhatsApp and Google Pay from Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platform Inc.
In order to replicate its domestic success, NPCI is now linking the UPI platform to systems in other nations. According to Shukla, it is discussing partnerships with governments, fintech firms and service providers all across the world in an effort to lower transaction costs and facilitate more small-ticket transactions.
According to Mayank Goyal, CEO of moneyHop, a cross-border banking software that enables users to send money abroad over the SWIFT network, “This is going to take the payments industry by storm.” Goyal stated that because UPI rails facilitate cross-border payments, the business will work to include them in the app.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated in a study that UPI’s connections with other countries will further anchor commerce, travel and remittance movements between the countries and reduce the cost of cross-border transfers.
Together with the nation’s lenders, the RBI established NPCI to facilitate quicker, easier and more affordable retail payments. To rapidly deal with vendors and send money between friends or family, a user only requires a virtual payment address.
