PhonePe, which has the largest market share in terms of UPI transactions, now allows international payments, allowing Indians travelling overseas to pay foreign businesses using UPI. This makes it the country’s first fintech platform to offer such a service.
Details about PhonePe is the first Indian fintech to accept UPI payments outside of India
The transactions would function similarly to those of an international debit card, with the foreign currency debited from the user’s bank account.
According to the firm, foreign merchant outlets with a local QR code in the UAE, Singapore, Nepal, and Bhutan are supported.
On the app, a PhonePe user can activate the bank account that is linked to UPI for UPI worldwide. The company stated that this can be done either at the site where the payment is to be made or prior to the journey, and that the user must input the UPI pin to activate the service. A customer would not require a credit card or a forex card to make payments outside of India with this service.
“UPI International is the first big step towards allowing the rest of the globe to enjoy UPI as well. “I am confident that this launch will be a game changer, radically transforming the way Indians travelling abroad pay at merchant outlets abroad,” said Rahul Chari, the company’s co-founder and CTO.
More countries are anticipated to join UPI International. The National Payments Corporation of India announced last month that NRIs from ten countries, including Singapore, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, will soon be able to make UPI payments without an Indian phone number.
