Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based money transfers between India and Singapore will become possible soon, as the countries are all set to link their respective fast payment systems, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow, said India’s High Commissioner in Singapore P Kumaran.
The technical work to connect UPI and PayNow has been finished.
The central banks of India and Singapore, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) respectively, will collaborate on the move. The service will enable easy fund transfers between the countries at the lowest possible cost.
UPI-PayNow will benefit workers who come to Singapore for a brief period of time and on average give up about 10% of the amount as bank fees for money transfers. The move will also help Indian tourists, who will have the advantage of using the service over international credit cards that have exorbitant fees.
PayNow is similar to RuPay, the Indian card payment network. It has linkages with other Asean countries, so India can be connected to those through Singapore if the UPI-PayNow link is maintained. A link like UPI-PayNow could serve as a model for establishing an infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and the countries of the regional bloc.
