2 months ago
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RuPay cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) connectivity between India and Mauritius, as well as UPI connectivity between India and Sri Lanka were established on Monday to deepen financial integration and to facilitate digital payments among citizens of the three countries, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.
An Indian traveller to Mauritius will now be able to pay a merchant in Mauritius using UPI. Similarly, a Mauritian traveller will be able to pay a merchant in India using the Instant Payment System (IPS) app of Mauritius.
Further, with the adoption of RuPay technology, the MauCAS card scheme of Mauritius will enable banks in Mauritius to issue RuPay cards domestically. Such cards can be used at ATMs and PoS terminals locally in Mauritius as well as in India.
“With this, Mauritius becomes the first country outside Asia to issue cards using RuPay technology. Indian RuPay cards would also be accepted at ATMs and PoS terminals in Mauritius,” the RBI said in a statement.
The digital payments connectivity with Sri Lanka will enable Indian travellers to make QR code-based payments at merchant locations in Sri Lanka using their UPI apps.
These projects had been developed and executed by NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) along with partner banks / non-banks from Mauritius and Sri Lanka, under the guidance and support of the RBI.
“The Bank of Mauritius and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka have also played an important role in making these possible. The above facilities have been made operational through select banks/non-banks/ third party application providers in India, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Going forward, these facilities will be scaled up,” the RBI said.
The collaborations on India’s digital payments connectivity with Mauritius and Sri Lanka through UPI and RuPay will deepen financial integration and strengthen the long historical, cultural, and economic relations of India with Mauritius and Sri Lanka, it added in a statement.
The virtual introduction of these services were witnessed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, and President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe. Reserve Bank of India Governor, Shaktikanta Das, Bank of Mauritius Governor, Harvesh Seegolam, and Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor, P. Nandalal Weerasinghe were also present on the occasion.
