New Delhi, February 6 (IANS). Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has gone live in more than eight countries, which include UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, Qatar and Mauritius. This shows India’s leadership in digital payments. This information was given by the government in Parliament on Friday.
Jitin Prasad, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, told the Rajya Sabha that the increasing international acceptance of UPI is boosting remittances, encouraging financial inclusion and further strengthening India’s position in the global fintech scenario.
Additionally, the Government has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs)/agreements with 23 countries for sharing or collaborating on Bharat Stack/Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). These are primarily aimed at promoting the adoption of digital governance platforms in India.
The Union Minister said that the objective of these MoUs is to promote cooperation in areas such as digital identity, digital payments, data exchange and service delivery platforms. These are in line with India’s comprehensive digital public infrastructure diplomacy under the India Stack framework.
MoUs have been signed with Cuba, Kenya, UAE and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR) for DigiLocker.
Additionally, the Government has taken steps to share the success of India’s DPI globally.
India Stack Global showcases India’s DPI and facilitates its adoption by friendly countries. The portal provides access to 18 major digital platforms.
“The Global DPI Repository, launched during India’s G20 Presidency (2023), serves as a global knowledge platform to which India has contributed the highest number of DPI solutions,” the Union Minister said.
Major DPI and digital solutions include Aadhaar, UPI, CoWIN, API Setu, DigiLocker, Aarogya Setu, GeM, Umang, Diksha, e-Sanjeevani and PM Gatishakti etc.
Meanwhile, according to recent data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the number of UPI transactions recorded a 28 percent growth (year-on-year) in the month of January and reached 21.70 billion. Additionally, the transaction amount also recorded an annual growth of 21 percent and reached Rs 28.33 lakh crore.
–IANS
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