The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said on Thursday that Nepal will be the first country to adopt India’s UPI system, which will play a vital role in transforming the digital economy of the neighboring nation.
NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the company’s international branch, has partnered with Gateway Payments Service (GPS) and Manam InfoTech to provide services in Nepal.
In Nepal, GPS is the authorized payment service operator, and Manam InfoTech will implement the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) there.
According to NPCI, the collaboration will benefit Nepal’s larger digital public good by strengthening interoperable real-time person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions in the neighboring country.
“Nepal shall be the first country outside of India to adopt UPI as the payments platform driving the digitalization of cash transactions and furthering the vision and objectives of the Nepal Government and Nepal Rastra Bank as the Central bank,” NPCI stated.
This collaboration will allow Nepal’s last-mile consumers to benefit from an open, interoperable payment system that enables real-time financial transfers between bank accounts and merchant payments.
According to the NPCI, it will open the door for real-time cross-border P2P transfers between Nepal and India. According to Rajesh Prasad Manandhar, CEO of GPS, the UPI service has had a significant positive impact on India in terms of the country’s digital payment transformation.
“We expect UPI in Nepal would play a pivotal role in transforming the digital economy of the country and dreams of building a less-cash society,” he added.
In 2021, UPI facilitated 3,900 crore financial transactions worth USD 940 billion, which is almost 31% of India’s GDP.
“At NIPL, we are committed to transforming payments by taking our robust payments solutions to global markets and collaborating with local payment system operators. We are confident that this initiative will stand as a testimony to NIPL’s technological capabilities and vision of scaling our unique offerings globally,” Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL said.
“Manam has always been part of major digital transformation across the various regions of the world, we believe this partnership will eliminate all the barriers of payment transformation within Nepal and across the border thereby transforming the regional economy,” Naga Babu Ramineni, Director of Manam said.
In India, UPI is one of the most prominent real-time payment (RTP) systems, offering ease, safety, and security in P2P and P2M transactions.
Nepal’s population is estimated to be over 30 million (3 crore), with about 45 percent of the population registered. According to NPCI, Nepal has a mobile penetration rate of over 135%, with 65 percent of the population owning a smartphone. This provides a solid foundation for the digital revolution in India to be replicated in Nepal.
In the coming months, the three companies will collaborate closely to bring UPI to Nepal, complete with all of the functionality and features currently accessible in India.
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