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The sheer volume of transactions carried out using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in 2022 demonstrates the degree of security offered by the real-time payment system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
“If I were to talk about the number of transactions, this, is, like I said before, more than 74 billion transactions. This demonstrates that India’s UPI system is very easily and in a very secure manner, able to handle such a large number of transactions,” Modi said.
“Singapore is the first country with which we have today launched a person-to-person payment facility,” the prime minister said at an event launching a real-time payment systems linkage between India and Singapore.
The launch of the facility, which links India’s UPI with Singapore’s PayNow was attended by Modi, Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, and the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ravi Menon.
In the calendar year 2022, UPI processed over 74 billion transactions, worth Rs 125.94 trillion, NPCI data showed. In 2021, the platform processed over 38 billion transactions worth Rs 71.54 trillion. The platform crossed the first billion transactions in October 2019, almost three years after its launch in 2016.
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The newly launched linkage between UPI and PayNow would enable users to transfer funds held in bank accounts or e-wallets to and from India using only the UPI id, mobile number, or Virtual Payment Address (VPA), the RBI said.
Initially, the State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank, and ICICI Bank will facilitate the remittances – both inward and outward – while Axis Bank and DBS India will facilitate the inward remittances, the central bank said.
Users in Singapore can avail of the service through DBS-Singapore and Liquid Group, which is a non-bank financial institution, the RBI said, adding that more banks will be roped in for the linkage over time.
“To begin with, an Indian user can remit up to ₹60,000 in a day (equivalent to around SGD 1,000). At the time of making the transaction, the system shall dynamically calculate and display the amount in both the currencies for convenience of the user,” the RBI said.
The UPI-PayNow linkage is the result of collaboration between the RBI, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the NPCI International Payments Limited, Banking Computer Services Pte Ltd, and participating banks as well as non-bank financial institutions.
The linkage, which is aligned with the financial inclusion priorities of the G20, represents a key milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore, the RBI said.
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