Indians living in 10 nations to be able to use UPI apps

New Delhi: Indians living in 10 other nations will soon be able to access UPI apps while using their international mobile numbers. NRIs won't have to depend on their Indian phone number to use the easy method of money transactions. A cabinet committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved a Rs 2,600 crore scheme for promoting RuPay debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions.

These countries are Singapore, the US, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the UK. This will be a great help to international students, local businesses, and family members living abroad.

According to the National Payments Corporation of India, accounts like NRE/NRO (Non-Resident External and Non-resident Ordinary) with international mobile numbers can transact using UPI. An NRE account helps NRIs transfer foreign earnings to India. An NRO account helps people manage the income earned in India.

Banks have time till April 30th to comply with the new initiative. Banks will be provided financial incentives for promoting transactions using RuPay and UPI under the Centre’s scheme. "India's strides in digital payments will be further strengthened by today's Cabinet decision regarding the promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and BHIM-UPI transactions," tweeted PM Modi.

These accounts will have to follow the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regulations and guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to guard against money laundering and terror financing, reported NDTV.