India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has been linked with Singapore’s PayNow to enable faster remittances between the two countries. Singapore’s PayNow is a real-time payment system, equivalent to India’s UPI, developed by the Association of Banks in the East Asian country. The PayNow interface facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions.
With UPI-PayNow interlinkage, people in India and Singapore can send money in real-time. But how will it work and what will be the fund transfer limit and benefits?
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Who can undertake remittance transactions via UPI-PayNow interlinkage?
All account holders of participating banks and financial institutions in both countries India and Singapore will be able to transact and transfer funds cross-border in real-time.
Purposes for which remittances can be sent or received:To start with, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will allow only Person-to-Person (P2P) remittances for the ‘Maintenance of Relatives Abroad’ and ‘Gifts’.
How will it benefit people of both countries?The UPI-PayNow linkage will allow citizens of India and Singapore to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis through two fastest payments system networks UPI and PayNow. The initiative will primarily help the Indian diaspora in Singapore through the instantaneous and low-cost transfer of funds from the East Asian nation to India and vice-versa.
Which are the participating banks?SBI, Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank and ICICI Bank will facilitate both inward and outward remittances. Axis Bank and DBS India will facilitate inward remittances. For Singapore users, the service will be made available through DBS-Singapore and Liquid Group (a non-bank financial institution).
What is the daily fund transfer limit?At present, the daily fund transfer limit for Indian users has been kept at Rs 60,000 (equivalent to around SGD 1,000), which may be revised later. At the time of transaction, the system will dynamically calculate and show INR/SGD converted amount for convenience of the user.
