Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) will now be able to use their international mobile numbers to access the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). New guidelines from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) now enable NRIs in 10 countries to use their international mobile phones to access UPI services for bank accounts that are designated as Non-Resident External (NRE) or Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts.
NRIs in these nations will now have the choice to activate a UPI account using the mobile number they already use in that nation with an international country code, in accordance with the guidelines. Remember that a working India mobile phone number is required to create a UPI ID for any app.
When a user activates UPI through a mobile app, such as Google Pay or Paytm, the app sends an SMS from the phone to confirm that the mobile number is connected to the bank. Due to the high cost of international roaming, users who relocate abroad will have to continue using their India numbers in order to access UPI, which could result in significant expenses.
These individuals can now access UPI without using their India mobile phone numbers. The NPCI’s ruling states that member banks must make sure the UPI account is only permitted in accordance with “the extant FEMA regulations and adherence to the guidelines/instructions issued by the concerned regulatory departments of Reserve Bank of India from time to time.”
Additionally, any “required Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/ Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CT) checks and compliance validation/account level validations as per the extent” need to be applied to these bank accounts.
According to NPCI, starting in the near future, mobile numbers with the country codes of the nations listed below in addition to the present domestic country code will be able to conduct transactions. In the near future, it intends to expand the UPI capacity to support additional country codes. The countries supported are Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Furthermore, a user can only access UPI from an overseas mobile phone if they have an NRE or NRO account. The business community also applauds NPCI’s action.
Vishwas Patel, Chairman, of the Payments Council of India and Executive Director, of Infibeam Avenues Ltd said, “It is a far-sighted move, a move that would really benefit the NRIs. The major convenience factor would be in the form of ‘payment/money transfer convenience’ for NRIs when they visit India and can pay easily across millions of Indian merchants accepting UPI, thus, now they can do away with the use of their expensive international cards.”
“I believe in the long run our NRIs will play a vital role in increasing the adaption & popularity of Indian payment technology – UPI, in foreign soil and truly make UPI a global payment & money transfer network,” he added.
According to the news agency PTI, The founder of Sarvatra Technologies, Mandar Agashe, said: “NRIs will just need to link their NRE and NRO accounts linked to their international SIM to UPI and use it like any other Indian UPI user for merchant payment as well as peer-to-peer payments.”
