India is set to allow extending its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for merchant payments for travellers coming from abroad,
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday that to begin with, this service will be permitted to travellers from G20 countries arriving at select international airports.
“UPI has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India. It is now proposed to permit all inbound travellers to India to use UPI for their merchant payments (P2M) while they are in the country,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said.
“To begin with, this facility will be extended to travellers from G-20 countries arriving at select international airports,” Das said during a briefing on the deliberations at the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
The RBI Governor said that the bank will launch a pilot project in 12 cities wherein a machine will vend coins based on QR codes.
These vending machines will dispense coins against debit to the customer’s account using UPI instead of physical tendering of banknotes, he said.
“This will enhance the ease of accessibility to coins. Based on the learning from the pilot, guidelines will be issued to banks to promote distribution of coins using these machines,” Das said.
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