UPI will jump into the UK market starting with QR code-based transactions.
The NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) has forge a partnership with payments solutions provider PayXpert to internationalise the acceptance of its payment solutions in the UK.
NIPL is the wholly-own subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which develop the world’s largest real-time payment solution the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the RuPay card scheme.
NPCI said in a release :
“This collaboration will make the Indian payment solutions available in the UK on all PayXpert’s android point-of-sale (POS) devices for in-store payments, starting with UPI-based QR code payments and later integrating the possibility for RuPay card payments,”.
Count as one of the most successful Real-Time Payments (RTP) systems globally, UPI clock a volume of $940 billion (approx. Rs. 74,81,800 crore) in 2021, equivalent to 31% of India’s GDP.
RuPay is the domestically develop global card payment network in India with over 70 crore (700 million) cards issue to date.
David Armstrong, Managing Director, PayXpert in the UK, said the foray of UPI and RuPay will open up a new field of opportunity for the company in the UK.
It will further strengthen the capability of company’s solution for UK merchants, he said.
NPCI said over 5 lakh Indians, including over 1 lakh students, travel to the UK every year.
It said this number is expect to grow exponentially over the next few years.
The partnership will provide Indian travellers a familiar and convenient way to make payments in the UK.
NPCI said the UPI and RuPay payment options are set to benefit both consumers and retailers across the UK, while providing a welcome boost to commerce across the retail, hospitality and tourism sectors.
Anubhav Sharma, Head International Business – Partnership, Business Development & Marketing, NPCI International, said :
“With this development, Indians travelling to the UK will be able to enjoy the benefits of UPI’s payments platform through PayXpert’s POS devices. This collaboration is an important milestone for us and we plan on augmenting the facility of RuPay card payments in the near future,”.
In July 2021, Bhutan became the first country to adopt Unified Payment Interface standards for NPCI’s QR deployment, and the only country to accept RuPay cards.
Earlier in 2022, the UPI foray into another neighbourhood country Nepal in a move aim at bolstering real-time digital transactions.
