For Indians travelling to Europe, making payments is going to become easier soon. The visitors will be able to use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) linked with their Indian bank accounts to pay for transactions in some European countries.
The development comes as the NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the global arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has partnered with France-based digital payment company Worldline to expand the services of the Indian payment means across Europe, PTI reported.
With this, Worldline has become the first European payment services company to offer UPI and RuPay (NPCI’s card network) facilities to European merchants and Indian natives visiting the continent, as per Inc42.
How can Indians use UPI for transactions and in which European nations will the digital payment service work? What is the aim behind the move? Which other countries allow UPI payments?
Let’s decode.
How to use UPI in Europe?
The Indian natives travelling to Europe must have an Indian bank account with an activated UPI, as per Indian Express.
They can make UPI payments from their mobile phones through applications such as BHIM, the Indian government’s digital payment app.
The service will be available through Worldline’s QR code-based mechanism that will allow merchants’ Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems in Europe to accept UPI payments from Indians.
Under the partnership, Indians will also be able to use their RuPay debit or credit cards to make payments in Europe.
Notably, the UPI payments made in Europe will be charged in the local currency and not the Indian rupee (INR), thus prompting a currency conversion charge levied by the banks, reports Indian Express.
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Which European countries will allow UPI payments?
For now, the UPI payments can be made in limited European nations but the service will be further expanded to other countries.
“Facilitated via Worldline QR, the company’s universal product for the acceptance of all QR-based payments, the first target markets for NIPL (NPCI International Payments Ltd) are set to include BENELUX (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) and Switzerland with further plans for expansion, as Worldline QR is rolled out in more European countries,” NPCI and Worldline said in a statement, as per Indian Express.
UPI in Europe
By extending UPI services in Europe, the two companies say they expect an increase in spending from Indian tourists.
The initiation of payments via UPI and RuPay cards in Europe will “result in a multitude of customer-related merchant benefits due to an increase in footfall and spending from Indian tourists”, the NPCI and Worldline said.
“Our analysis of international customers’ payment behaviour has indicated a push away from international card schemes in recent times, and a preference for any mobile payment method they are acquainted with. Our partnership with NPCI International seeks to mitigate the risk of excluding or limiting Indian customers from safely using electronic payments in the EU,” Marc-Henri Desportes, Deputy CEO of Worldline, said, as per PTI.
Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL, said the partnership will render the company an opportunity to grow its service in the European markets.
“The rollout of acceptance of UPI-powered apps and RuPay cards across Europe is important to us, as we expect increased mobility of Indians in the continent in the coming years. We believe this partnership will empower Indian consumers to continue using their preferred payment modes as they travel across Europe,” Shukla was quoted as saying by PTI.
Other countries that accept UPI payments
Last year in September, NIPL had signed an agreement with Liquid Group, based in Singapore, to enable UPI QR-based payment services in 10 countries across north and southeast Asia.
“Liquid Group integrates an extensive network of merchant acquiring partners in the 10 markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan,” the statement said, as per Business Standard.
Bhutan was the first country to allow UPI transactions through BHIM App in July 2021.
In March this year, Nepal adopted the UPI for digital transactions. Nepal’s Manam Infotech and Gateway Payments Service joined hands to offer person-to-person (P2P), person-to-merchant (P2M) and cross-border digital payments.
Tourists and Indian migrants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can pay for transactions through UPI due to the partnership between the NPCI and the UAE-based Mashreq Bank’s NEOPAY. The announcement was made in late April this year.
In August this year, NIPL forged a partnership with payments solutions provider PayXpert to extend UPI services for Indian students and nationals in the United Kingdom.
Oman has joined the list of countries to allow UPI payments. NPCI and Central Bank of Oman (CBO) signed a formal agreement in early October in this regard.
UPI widely used in India
UPI – an instant real-time payment system– clocked a record 6.8 billion transactions amounting to Rs 11.17 trillion in September 2022, Business Standard reported citing National Payments Corporation of India’s data.
This was the third month consecutively that the UPI transaction volumes crossed the six-billion mark.
UPI is also expected to touch more milestones in terms of transaction and value in October and November, PTI reported.
With inputs from agencies
