Central bank institutions of Singapore and India will link their real-time payment systems next week to enhance cross-border payment connectivity
Linking Singapore’s PayNow with India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) will allow seamless cross-border transactions. Image: pixabay
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have scheduled the linkage of their national real-time payment systems for February 21. The move is supposed to enhance cross-border payment connectivity between the two countries.
Linking Singapore’s PayNow with India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) will allow seamless cross-border transactions at a “highly competitive rate,” according to MAS.
Similar partnerships have already occurred in the region. Thus, Singapore has previously connected its real-time payments system with Thailand’s PromptPay, while India is also planning a partnership with Malaysia in the near future.
Ultimately, Asian countries aim to develop an interoperable cross-border system for QR code-based payments under the ASEAN Payment Connectivity Initiative.
Interoperability will greatly facilitate remittances between the citizens of these countries. Currently, remittances from Singapore to India equal no less than S$1 billion (US$749 million) since many Indians come to work in the city-state. In other direction, the remittance flow is S$200 – 300 million (US$149 – 224.7 million), according to MAS calculations.
