France: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday that India and France have come to an agreement to utilize the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in France, thus opening up a vast new market for Indian innovation.
During his address to the Indian community at La Seine Musicale, Modi shared the exciting news that soon Indian tourists would be able to make payments in rupees using UPI at the iconic Eiffel Tower itself.
Expressing his delight, Modi stated, ‘In France, an agreement has been made for the use of India’s UPI… It will be started from the Eiffel Tower, and now Indian tourists would be able to make payments in rupees, through UPI, in the Eiffel Tower.’
The Prime Minister also mentioned that in 2022, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees UPI services, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with France’s highly secure online payment system, called Lyra. Furthermore, in 2023, UPI entered into an agreement with Singapore’s PayNow, thereby facilitating cross-border transactions between the two countries.
Already, the UPI payment system has been successfully adopted by the UAE, Bhutan, and Nepal. Looking ahead, NPCI International is actively engaged in negotiations to expand UPI services in the United States, European countries, and West Asia.
