PM Modi in Paris: France to launch UPI system with India. How will it help?

All eyes are on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s France visit during which India is likely to sign deals to purchase 26 Rafale M naval jets and three additional Scorpene submarines. Centered on strengthening bilateral relations, the two-day visit of the PM may also witness the possible launch of digital payment technology Unified Payments Interface or UPI in France. If President Emmanuel Macron’s government inks the deal for the UPI system in France, then it will become the first European country to have the UPI. As per reports, if all agreements are closed in time, the linkage will be launched by Prime Minister Modi from an iconic location in Paris.  How will UPI in France help?  In February this year, India’s real-time retail payment system UPI and its equivalent network in Singapore called PayNow were integrated to establish faster remittance between both countries at a competitive rate. Just like with Singapore, the UPI deal between India and France will allow users in either country to make cross-border transactions. Reports say that NPCI, the company behind UPI, and France’s Lyra have been working on this for a year. In July 2022, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishanaw said India was in talks with 30 countries regarding UPI and had already signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with three countries - France, UAE and Singapore. The minister, last year, had also said UPI and Rupay cards will soon be accepted in France. The MoU with France was signed between the National Payments Corporation of India International (NPCI International), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Lyra Network, a French payment solutions company. India-France UPI MoU As part of the MoU, Lyra Networks will let Indians pay using UPI and Rupay cards at terminals and machines offered by Lyra Networks. This would help make payments easier especially for students and tourists from India. Countries where UPI is used Indians can already use UPI in countries like Singapore and Bhutan. As per reports, NPCI International is also in talks with Nepal to enable UPI payments. In his departure statement, PM Modi highlighted that his visit “special” visit to France will focus on strengthening bilateral relations in several domains including defence, space, civil nuclear, trade, investment, culture and people-to-people ties.