On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the fintech sector to enhance the international presence of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). He emphasized the importance of linking UPI with local payment systems in other countries. Modi’s initiative aims to assist the Indian diaspora by reducing remittance costs, making it easier for them to send money home.
Modi Highlights India’s Economic Growth Amid Global Challenges
Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the resilience of the Indian economy during his speech at the inauguration of the 7th Global Fintech Fest. He noted that India’s real GDP growth of 7.8 percent instills confidence globally, particularly in light of the challenges posed by the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Modi’s remarks underscore India’s economic performance in a difficult quarter.
They are the largest remitters of money. Because indians work in large numbers in foreign countries, “This is essential. Urging the fintech (financial technology) ecosystem to not rest on the laurels of the past decade that saw real-time payments using UPI rise to 24.51 billion transactions, as of August this year, the PM said the next aim should be to expand UPI’s global reach. Modi said the UPI platform is now live in 11 countries and has been connected with the local system in Singapore, which has brought transactions between the two countries on a par with payments done between two local neighbourhoods. He said the PM-SVANidhi initiative of supporting street vendors with working capital credit was made possible by UPI, which helped increase the average annual income of the beneficiaries by 20 per cent.
He said the focus should be on countries that are home to a large Indian diaspora, have high trade volumes with India or are willing to partner with New Delhi in connecting their systems. A part of the remittances goes away as transaction costs; UPI can help in saving on these costs and the money can also reach families faster,” he said. Reiterating French President Emmanuel Macron’s words, Modi said UPI is not only a tech story but also a civilisational one.
