Following the operationalisation of the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) in four Middle Eastern nations, India is now planning to expand its presence for cross-border bill payments in the UK. With this, non-resident Indians (NRI) will be able to use the system for direct payments towards bill payments through a variety of methods, including wallets, debit and credit cards, the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, and the National Electronic Funds Transfer, or NEFT.
Noopur Chaturvedi, Chief Executive Officer, NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd spoke to the media on the same and mentioned, “Our initial focus was on the Middle Eastern countries because of the sizeable NRI population there. It (Bharat Bill Payment System) is already operational in Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain. Now, it is about to go live in the UK for cross-border bill payments. Later, we could explore other countries with a significant NRI presence, such as Canada and Singapore.”
The Reserve Bank of India is receiving several requests from NRIs to expand this facility in their home nations, according to Chaturvedi, who was speaking at the Innovation Pavilion of the Reserve Bank of India at the current G20 Leaders’ Summit.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which was founded by the RBI, is the system’s primary driver. With an accessible anytime, anywhere bill payment service, it serves as a one-stop ecosystem for paying all bills. The system can be used to pay several bills, including those for electricity, water, gas, telephone, DTH, and insurance.
During the current G20 Leaders’ Summit in Delhi, India is providing a preview of its digital payment system to the delegates using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and e-rupee, or central bank digital currency. On the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, there were about 20–21 UPI transactions at the RBI pavilion stands. The UPI transactions were carried out by representatives from several nations, including Germany, China, Nigeria, Brazil, Russia, the UAE, Argentina, Thailand, the United Nations Secretariat, and the Chief Economic Adviser to the UK Prime Minister, according to authorities.
The key components of India’s efforts to build a digital public infrastructure are on display for foreign delegates at the G20 Summit. These include the use of UPI service for foreign delegates without the need for a bank account, RuPay payments that can be made through accessories like smartwatches, India’s digital rupee, and a database platform that can be used to lend money for various purposes.
India has highlighted its efforts to build digital public infrastructure throughout its G20 presidency. It has also looked into other countries’ interest in adopting the underlying technologies that power India’s DPI push, which it refers to as the India Stack.
Industry observers believe that this is India’s attempt to position itself as a leader in digital governance, particularly given its ambitions to lead the Global South. This is also seen as a differentiator from rival China, which is supporting the construction of physical infrastructure in other emerging nations, in official circles.
Delegates can participate in an interactive display of the RBI’s Public Tech Platform (PTP) for frictionless credit at the RBI pavilion at the G20 Summit location.
The portal acts as a single point of access to data about residents stored by several departments and ministries of the government. Lenders can connect to the platform to access the necessary data or information for an easy credit evaluation and conclusion. The platform was first focused on items like the Kisan Credit Card, dairy loans, collateral-free loans for MSMEs, personal loans, and house loans by the RBI, which conducted a test of it in August.
The UPI platform, one of India’s most well-known sales pitches to the globe, including both developed and developing nations, is also available to foreign delegates. The feature, which uses Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) wallets linked to UPI for making payments at merchant outlets, is offered to G20 attendees without requiring them to have a bank account in India. If foreign nationals visit India frequently, they may choose to keep the amount in the prepaid wallet for use on their subsequent trips rather than convert it back to foreign currency when they leave India.
This assumes significance given that India is actively encouraging other countries to adopt the UPI architecture. The service is being accepted in international markets such as France, the UAE, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, with countries like Japan showing an interest in adopting the payment system.
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