UPI-PayNow Linkage Would Promote Bilateral Relations: Singaporean Envoy

As India and Singapore on Tuesday linked their respective online payments systems for seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries, Singaporean High Commissioner to India Simon Wong Wie Kuen on Tuesday said this collaboration would take bilateral relations to greater heights and his country looks forward to continuing to be part of India’s digital transformation journey.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore have been linked earlier today at a virtual event, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

“As India’s 1st first cross-border real-time payment partner, this milestone initiative reflects the deep trust between both countries, and will take bilateral relations to even greater heights. We look forward to continue to be part of India’s digital transformation journey,” the envoy said in a tweet.

The linkage of these two payment systems of both countries would enable residents to the faster and more cost-efficient transfer of cross-border remittances. People in both countries can send money in real-time via QR-code based or simply by entering mobile numbers linked to the bank account.

Shaktikanta Das, Governor, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s apex financial authority, also presided over the launch event.

This collaboration will also help the Indian diaspora in Singapore, especially migrant workers and students through instantaneous and low-cost transfer of money from Singapore to India and vice-versa.

Prime ministers of both countries had a telephone call in connection with the joint virtual launch of the PayNow-UPI linkage, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore said.

The readout said both the prime ministers reaffirmed the strong, broad-based, and forward-looking relationship between Singapore and India, which is underpinned by frequent high-level exchanges and robust cooperation across various sectors.