Abu Dhabi: Indians travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can now make payments using Unified Payment Interface (UPI) based apps on their mobile phones.
National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) has partnered with Mashreq bank to offer this service in the UAE. Those who use the UPI system in India can also use the system for foreign transactions. Overseas services are provided with security features.
The UAE will be the third country to accept UPI payments outside of India after Singapore and Bhutan.
This partnership will allow over 2 million Indians who visit the UAE for business or leisure purposes every year to pay for their purchases using UPI-based mobile applications across shops and merchant stores in the UAE.
Apart from visitors, this will also help UAE residents to opt for cashless payments to shopkeepers.
“We are excited about the partnership with Mashreq Bank, which will enable consumers from India to transact smoothly using NPCI’s UPI platform and deliver a seamless user experience,” Gulf News quoted NIPL CEO Ritesh Shukla.
From Mashreq’s perspective, the initiative will enable its merchants to attract customers who are accustomed to mobile-based payment systems.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and is controlled by NCPI. It is an instantaneous, real-time payment system that allows users to transfer funds in real time, across multiple bank accounts without revealing one’s bank account details to the other.
Meanwhile, there are 50 third-party UPI apps in India. PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm and Amazon Pay are the popular UPI apps in the market.