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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to launch the country’s first national domestic card scheme (DCS) in order to promote the use of digital payments and enhance financial inclusion... More
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has unveiled a suite of United Payments Interface (UPI) services that includes UPI Tap & Pay NFC-enabled QR codes, QR code-enabled ATM withdrawals, the addition of support for offline NFC payments to the UPI Lite X digital wallet, and Hello... More
Residents of India will soon be able to make mobile payments for goods and services when visiting Nepal from their smartphone’s digital wallet using an interoperable cross-border payments system to be implemented between the two countries... More
Google Pay users in India can now choose to make in-store mobile payments with their Android NFC smartphone directly from their bank account using the country’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) real-time mobile payments service... More
A third of Indian households across a range of income groups now use digital payment methods, but “this can easily go up to 50% given high desire to use,” research from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) reveals... More
Merchants in India can now use a standard NFC mobile phone to accept contactless RuPay domestic card payments valued at up to 5,000 rupees (US$68)... More
Google Pay users in India can now earn rewards by taking part in a digital travel game and collecting ‘tickets’ for a virtual journey around the country every time they use the mobile payments service on either their Android or iOS device... More
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced the launch of subsidiary firm NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) with the aim of exporting its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) real-time mobile payments service and RuPay domestic payment card scheme to global markets... More
Indian telecommunications giant Reliance Jio has begun piloting Jio Pay, a new UPI-enabled payments service which includes support for both NFC and QR mobile payments... More
“UPI has had the fastest acceptance rate not just among payment platforms but digital platforms of any kind,” Dilip Asbe, chief executive officer of the National Payments Corporation of India, has told Bloomberg... More
National Payments Corporation of India mulls using blockchain to boost digital transactions — Business Today — “The NPCI has floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) in order to enable bidders to propose their capability for developing distributed ledger technology/blockchain in the payment domain.”
Xiaomi announces official Indian launch of Mi Pay — GSMArena — “Back in 2016, Xiaomi launched Mi Pay in China and followed that up by launching a beta trial in India. Testing is finally complete and Indian users get full access to Mi Pay. The platform is built on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in collaboration with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and ICICI Bank and supports more than 120 banks.”
After Amazon and WhatsApp, Apple orders ‘stop payment’ — The Economic Times — “Silicon Valley giant Apple has shelved plans to launch a Unified Payments Interface-based payments platform in India after landing in a regulatory grey zone that has stalled the full rollouts of similar products by Amazon and WhatsApp as well. Apple put the brakes on introducing Apple Pay in the country despite holding discussions with a few leading banks and the National Payments Corporation of India, which manages the UPI platform, said two people with knowledge of the matter.”
Almost one million people ‘testing’ WhatsApp payments service in India — PTI/Economic Times — “Today, almost one million people are testing WhatsApp payments in India. The feedback has been very positive, and people enjoy the convenience of sending money as simple and securely as sending messages,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told PTI… WhatsApp is working closely with the Indian government, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and multiple banks, including payment service providers, to expand the feature to more people.”
PM launches RuPay in Singapore — The Tribune — “The RuPay digital payments system was linked up with Singapore’s 33-year-old Network for Electronic Transfers (Nets). RuPay users will be able to make payments at all Nets acceptance points across Singapore. Holders of Singapore Nets will be able to make online purchases on the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) e-commerce merchant website, using 2.8m RuPay point-of-sale terminals in India.”
The most obvious recent change in the payments landscape across India is the significant increase in the number of digital payments taking place in both urban and rural areas as a result of the measures taken by the Indian government to push the cashless initiative to the top of the nation’s agenda, says Mahindra Comviva’s senior vice president and head of mobile financial solutions. More
Samsung Pay has launched in India with support from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Cards and Standard Chartered Bank, with Citibank India support expected “shortly”. The service has also integrated India’s leading mobile wallet Paytm and comes with support for peer-to-peer money transfers through the Indian government’s Unified Payments Interface platform. More
Indian consumers can now make QR code-based mobile payments using BharatQR, a “low cost, interoperable mobile acceptance solution” backed by the Indian government and developed by Mastercard, Visa and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)... More
Indian mobile wallet providers have approached the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to identify how to develop a common QR code for NPCI’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) platform... More
The Government of India has introduced a series of incentives designed to encourage consumers and businesses to adopt digital and mobile payments and significantly reduce the use of cash in the economy — including plans to encourage banks to introduce one million point-of-sale terminals by March 2017, rising to two million by September... More
