EbixCash Limited, a subsidiary of Ebix, Inc. announced on February 14, 2023 that it will launch the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) pilot project for foreign nationals visiting India.
According to EbixCash, the pilot will be launched in Bangalore at the G-20 summit, involving dignitaries from the G20 group of nations.
This new capability will allow any foreign national visiting India to pay for goods and services in India, using UPI in seconds, the company announced in a press statement, EbixCash said, adding that it has become the first financial services entity in the country to enable UPI services for foreign delegates attending the G-20 summit being held in India.
T C Guruprasad, managing director, payment solutions division and EbixCash World Money said: “We are excited to announce the launch of UPI for foreign nationals exchanging currencies across airports in India. This is in line with our commitment to embrace the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote digital transactions in India.”
He added: “This would enable passengers to visit our airport counters across India for converting their foreign currency into digital Indian currency, with a UPI interface to pay for goods and services across the country.
Earlier, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had on February 8, 2023 shared the proposal to permit UPI for merchant payments to inbound travellers in India.
This was the latest of guidelines related to ease of payments that the RBI has issued at its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting.
Das had said that UPI had become a ubiquitous payment instrument for retail electronic payments in the country, and now it had been decided to provide UPI access to inbound travellers to India, so they can access UPI for their merchant payments (P2M) while they are in the country.
“To start with, this facility will be extended to travellers from the G-20 countries, arriving at select international airports. Necessary operational instructions will be issued shortly,” he had said.
Going forward, this facility will be enabled across all other entry points in the country, Das added.
Previously, the international arm of National Payments Company of India (NPCI) had signed a deal with the Paris-based Worldline Payments to allow Indian travellers to pay for goods and services using UPI while travelling in Europe.
