From February 21, residents of Singapore and India will be able to instantly transfer money to each other through the Unified Payments Interface and PayNow. This partnership between UPI and PayNow of Singapore will enable fast and low-cost fund transfers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the linking ceremony on Tuesday, with RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Ravi Menon leading the launch.
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How does this work?
Users in Singapore can now directly transfer money to India using a UPI virtual payment address, and from India to Singapore using a mobile phone number.
Indians will now be able to use Google Pay, PayTM, PhonePe, and other digital payment systems for users in Singapore. While those in Singapore can transfer money to their families back home through PayNow and save close to 10 per cent on bank fees for money transfers.
Users of both the countries will also be able to make merchant payments using Scan QR services.
This move will benefit the 6.5 lakh Indians residing in Singapore as they can make instant payment and low-cost money transfer to India.
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UPI International
India has already signed 13 memoranda of understanding to adopt UPI for digital payments. There will be more such models to make cross-border payments just as easy as local payments.
Earlier this month, PhonePe announced ‘UPI International’ becoming the first fintech app to incorporate UPI payments in different countries. Users will now be able to make foreign merchant payments using PhonePe in UAE, SIngapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan. Through UPI International payment will be deducted from users account and it will be received in the received account in the local currency.
