Four Square Payments India - India's UPI payment system ready to go global?

　　UPI Payment Systems in India: Ready? The Road to Global Expansion

　　The Unified Payment Interface (UPI) payment system in India, has caused a revolution in the way payments are made in the subcontinent.UPI Payments have made it easy for Indians to instantly transfer funds from one bank account to another, whether it is customer-to-business or between individuals.

　　### The Rise of UPI Payment Systems

　　Since its launch, the UPI payment system has amassed 260 million users across a population of about 1.4 billion. Its ease of use and interoperability have made it a key enabler for cashless payments in India. MasterCard's New Payments Index 2022 shows that Indian consumers have the highest willingness to use emerging cashless payment methods, with 93% likely to have made such payments in the past year.

　　### Outcomes of public-private partnerships

　　While many fintech success stories come from the private sector, UPI's success shows that public-private digital financial inclusion efforts can also yield significant results. Having achieved dominance domestically, UPI Payment Systems is now looking to expand globally.

　　### The Challenge of Global Expansion

　　The question is whether the digital payment methods applicable in India can be applied globally?The biggest selling point of UPI internationally is that it can speed up and reduce the cost of cross-border transactions to and from India. India is the largest remittance market in the world, with over $100bn in remittances in 2022.

　　### Progress in cross-border co-operation

　　India has signed an agreement with UAE's Mashreq Bank to allow cross-border remittances through UPI. In addition, the UPI payment system has been linked to Singapore's PayNow real-time payment system, which could disrupt cross-border flows of more than $1 billion a year between the two countries.

　　### SWIFT Challenger?

　　The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is interested in creating a homegrown alternative to SWIFT for lower-cost payment flows through India's digital payment rail. There are no transaction fees for money transfers using the UPI payment system, which provides NPCI with a competitive advantage.

　　### UPI Measure of Success

　　One way to measure the success of the international expansion of UPI's payment system is to look at the extent of its network. Another key factor is the level of merchant adoption. Nepal is an important case study of UPI's global expansion, demonstrating the possibility of replicating UPI's success in India from scratch in a foreign market.

　　### Conclusion

　　If UPI thrives in Nepal, it could open the door for the system to expand in a similar way in other neighbouring countries.Atpay, a professional provider of payment solutions, is deeply committed to payment services in India and looks forward to providing payment capabilities to more customers at home and abroad, and working together to promote the development of digital payments.