Those visiting Europe will be able to make payments through UPI as the NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) has entered into a partnership with European payment services facilitator Worldline.
NIPL is the global arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The partnership between NIPL and Worldline is aimed at expanding acceptance of Indian payment means across Europe, according to a joint release issued on Tuesday.
Under the partnership, Worldline’s QR code-based mechanism will allow merchants’ Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems in Europe to accept UPI payments from Indians using their mobile phones.
Later on, Indian customers will also be able to use their RuPay debit or credit cards to make payments in Europe. This will result in a multitude of customer-related merchant benefits due to an increase in footfall and spending from Indian tourists, NPCI and Worldline said in the release.
Currently, Indian customers pay through international card networks when they travel overseas.
In 2021, UPI transactions stood at 38.74 billion and the value was USD 954.58 billion.
On the physical cards front, NPCI has issued 714 million indigenously-developed RuPay cards till date.
NIPL said it will target markets such as BENELUX, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and Switzerland. It will expand further with the rollout of Worldline QR in more European countries.
“Our analysis of international customers’ payment behaviour has indicated a push away from international card schemes in recent times, and a preference for any mobile payment method they are acquainted with.
“Our partnership with NPCI International seeks to mitigate the risk of excluding or limiting Indian customers from safely using electronic payments in the EU,” Marc-Henri Desportes, Deputy CEO of Worldline, said.
Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL, said the partnership will provide the company an opportunity with good coverage of the European markets as well as an advanced and universally applicable solution.
“The rollout of acceptance of UPI-powered apps and RuPay cards across Europe is important to us, as we expect increased mobility of Indians in the continent in the coming years. We believe this partnership will empower Indian consumers to continue using their preferred payment modes as they travel across Europe,” Shukla said.
Source: PTI
