Narendra Modi, Prime Minister (PM) of India, along with Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, virtually launched India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Mauritius and Sri Lanka.
- In addition to the UPI, the RuPay card service was also launched in Mauritius.
About UPI:
i.The Unified Payments Interface, an instant real-time payment system that was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016 to facilitate inter-bank transactions through mobile phones.
ii.The list of countries that accept UPI payments are Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates(UAE).
Key People:
The launch event was virtually attended by Shaktikanta Das, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Harvesh Seegolam, Governor of the Bank of Mauritius; and Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Key Points:
i.The UPI and RuPay card projects were developed and executed by NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) along with partner banks / non-banks from Mauritius and Sri Lanka, under the guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India.
ii.The Rupay co-branded card along with MauCAS (Mauritius Central Automated Switch) will be issued as a domestic card.
iii.With the launch of UPI, Mauritius citizens will be able to make payments in India through the Mauritius Instant Payment System (IPS) app.
About the launch of rupay cards in Mauritius:
i.Mauritius(African nation) becomes the first country outside Asia to issue cards using RuPay technology which empowers the MauCAS card scheme of Mauritius to enable the banks to issue RuPay cards domestically.
ii.The launch will help both India and Mauritius by the following:
- The rupay cards issued in Mauritius and India can be used at ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) and point of sale (PoS) terminals.
iii.As of February 2024, a total of five countries issue rupay cards namely Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, Singapore, and UAE.
About National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI):
Managing Director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO)– Dilip Asbe
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Incorporated in 2008
