India and Singapore link payment services

Subject : Economy

Section :Monetary Policy

Concept :

India and Singapore have integrated their respective real-time payment network for the first time to facilitate cross-border exchange.
India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and its equivalent in Singapore known as PayNow have been conjoined.
This will enable transfer of remittances, funds and payments between the two countries in a quick and real-time.
Now residents of Singapore and India can instantly transfer money to each other via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow.
The low-cost, faster and 24×7 cross-border connectivity project can be utilised by Indians using Google Pay, Paytm and other similar digital payment systems to transfer money to people in Singapore.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank).
It does so by merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
In other words, UPI is an interface via which one can transfer money between bank accounts across a single window.
UPI supports both Person-to-Person (P2P) and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payments and it also enables a user to send or receive money.
It was launched in 2016, by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Features :
- Immediate money transfer through mobile device round the clock 24*7 and 365 days
- Hassle free transactions as customers are not required to enter the details such as Card no, Account number, IFSC etc.

PayNow

Similar to India’s fast payment system UPI, PayNow is Singapore’s counterpart.
With just a mobile number, users can send and receive funds from one bank or e-wallet account to another in Singapore.
This peer-to-peer payments linkage is enabled through participating banks and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs) in the country.