Editor's Pick: India, Singapore link payment services

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Singapore’s PayNow are now officially connected to allow for “real-time payment linkage”. Singapore is the first country with which cross-border Person to Person (P2P) payment facilities have been launched. The plan was first announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in September 2021 to facilitate instant low-cost, cross-border fund transfer. It was initially decided to be made operational by July 2022. “The UPI-PayNow linkage is a significant milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore, and closely aligns with the G20’s financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments,” the RBI had said in 2021. UPI payments through QR codes are already available in Singapore, but its reach is limited. To demonstrate the link, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and the MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon made live “cross-border transactions” to each other using their mobile handsets. The initiative is a part of the government’s push to the UPI-based payment ecosystem. In January 2023, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) enabled international phone numbers to be able to transact using UPI. Soo after, the Union Cabinet approved incentivisation schemes for promoting low-value BHIM-UPI transactions in FY 2022-23. In the third quarter of 2022, India recorded over 23.06 billion digital payments – including UPI, debit and credit cards – worth ₹38.3 lakh crore. Out of these, UPI-based transactions amounted to ₹32.5 lakh crore. “This will help the Indian diaspora in Singapore, especially migrant workers/students and bring the benefits of digitalisation and FINTECH to the common man through instantaneous and low-cost transfer of money from Singapore to India and vice-versa,” the Ministry of External Affairs said. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor’s Pick and more. Click here. The Hindu’s Editorials Discipline and discussion: On Jagdeep Dhankar directive to Privileges Committee Waiting to rush: On EPFO guidelines on higher PF pension scheme The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz What is the name given to the guidelines for reporting sexual harassment in the workplace promulgated by the Supreme Court in 1997? Verma Committee Report Bhanwari Guidelines Manohar-Kirpal Report Vishakha Guidelines To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 22 FEBRUARY 2023 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( India, Singapore link payment services India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Singapore’s PayNow are now officially connected to allow for “real-time payment linkage”. Singapore is the first country with which cross-border Person to Person (P2P) payment facilities have been launched. [The plan was first announced]( by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in September 2021 to facilitate instant low-cost, cross-border fund transfer. It was initially decided to be made operational by July 2022. “The UPI-PayNow linkage is a significant milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore, and closely aligns with the G20’s financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments,” the RBI had said in 2021. UPI payments through QR codes are already available in Singapore, but its reach is limited. To demonstrate the link, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and the MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon made live “cross-border transactions” to each other using their mobile handsets. The initiative is a part of the government’s push to the UPI-based payment ecosystem. In January 2023, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) enabled international phone numbers to be able to transact using UPI. Soo after, the Union Cabinet approved incentivisation schemes for promoting low-value BHIM-UPI transactions in FY 2022-23. In the third quarter of 2022, India recorded over 23.06 billion digital payments – including UPI, debit and credit cards – worth ₹38.3 lakh crore. Out of these, UPI-based transactions amounted to ₹32.5 lakh crore. “This will help the Indian diaspora in Singapore, especially migrant workers/students and bring the benefits of digitalisation and FINTECH to the common man through instantaneous and low-cost transfer of money from Singapore to India and vice-versa,” the Ministry of External Affairs said. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor’s Pick and more. 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