UPI: Now you can use UPI Payments in Nepal; 1st country to deploy India's UPI payments

In a noteworthy development, Nepal is set to be the first country to adopt India's UPI system, which will play a pivotal role in transforming the country's digital economy, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said on Thursday, February 17.

The NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) has joined hands with Gateway Payments Service (GPS) and Manam Infotech to provide the services in Nepal. GPS is the authorized payment system operator in Nepal and Manam Infotech will help deploy Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in that country.

The collaboration will serve the larger digital public good in Nepal and bolster interoperable real-time person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions in the neighbouring country, NPCI said in a statement.

"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," it said.

With this facility in Nepal, last-mile consumers will be able to reap the benefits of an open interoperable payments system driving immediate payment transfers between bank accounts and merchant payments in real-time. It will also enable real-time cross-border P2P remittances between Nepal and India, NPCI said. 

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service has created a significant positive impact in India in terms of the country's digital payment transformation, Rajesh Prasad Manandhar, CEO of GPS said.

"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

India made 3,900 crore transactions via UPI in 2021

UPI is amongst the most successful real-time payments (RTP) systems globally, providing – simplicity, safety, and security in P2P and P2M transactions in India. In 2021, UPI enabled 3,900 crore financial transactions valuing USD 940 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 31% of India's GDP.

NPCI said UPI will help modernize Nepal's digital payment infrastructure and bring the convenience of digital payments to citizens of Nepal.

Nepal has a population of about 3 crores with around 45 percent banked. Mobile penetration of over 135 percent with 65 percent of the population using smartphones provides a bedrock for seamless replication of the digital revolution in India to be replicated in Nepal, NPCI said.

Over the next few months, all three companies will work closely together to deploy UPI in Nepal along with all the functionalities and features presently available in India.

(With inputs from agency)