A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by Google India Digital Services and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), to extend the revolutionary impact of UPI to nations outside of India.

According to the companies, the three main goals of the MoU are to: (1) increase the number of travelers outside of India who can easily conduct transactions abroad by using UPI payments; (2) support the establishment of digital payment systems similar to UPI in other nations; and (3) concentrate on making cross-border financial exchanges easier by remitting money between countries by utilizing the UPI infrastructure.

“We are delighted to support NIPL towards expanding the reach of UPI to international markets,” Deeksha Kaushal, director, partnerships, Google Pay India said.

“Google Pay has been a proud and willing collaborator to NPCI and the financial ecosystem, under the regulator’s guidance, and this collaboration is another step towards our commitment to making payments simple, safe and convenient", added Kaushal.

According to Kaushal, UPI has shown the world how interoperable, population-scale digital infrastructure can transform economies, and any economy that joins these networks will have an impact that goes beyond the sum of its parts.

The companies claimed that by outlining their goals, they will hasten the adoption of UPI around the world and give international retailers access to Indian consumers who will no longer be limited to using credit or debit cards or foreign currency to make digital payments. Instead, they will be able to use UPI-enabled apps from India, such as Google Pay.

“We are pleased to team up with Google Pay to propel UPI onto the global stage," Ritesh Shukla, chief executive officer of NIPL said.

"This strategic partnership will not only simplify foreign transactions for Indian travelers but will also allow us to extend our knowledge and expertise of operating a successful digital payments ecosystem to other countries”, added Shukla.

“We are also excited about enabling a seamless and more connected international remittance network by further expanding UPI’s cross-border interoperability feature”, continued Shukla.