India launches UPI services in Sri Lanka, Mauritius

India on Monday, 12 February successfully launched its Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

RuPay card services were also launched in Mauritius as part of this initiative.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the inaugural event virtually alongside his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth, and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Indians visiting the two nations will be able to utilise UPI services to make payments, and Mauritians travelling to India will be able to do the same. Additionally, Mauritian banks will be able to issue RuPay cards and use them for transactions in both India and Mauritius.

The launch of the Indian services comes amid growing bilateral economic ties with Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

UPI services, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), enable immediate real-time bank transactions using mobile phones.

RuPay is an Indian-based card payment network that is widely accepted at retail locations, ATMs, and online platforms globally.

Prior to this, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) worked with Lyra, a well-known French expert in e-commerce and proximity payments, to introduce UPI services to France.