India’s UPI being linked with Singapore’s PayNow for instant cash transfer

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, witness the launch of cross-border connectivity between the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore on February 21, 2023 via video conferencing, according to a PMO statement.

The launch will be done by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and Mr. Ravi Menon, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The linkage of these two payment systems would enable residents of both countries to transfer cross-border remittances in a faster and more cost-efficient way. It will also help the Indian diaspora in Singapore, especially migrant workers and students, through instantaneous and low-cost transfer of money from Singapore to India and vice-versa.

India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing ecosystems for fintech innovation as the Modi government has been driving the globalisation of the country’s digital payment infrastructure. A key emphasis of the Prime Minister has been on ensuring that the benefits of UPI are not limited to India only, but other countries, too, benefit from it.