India, Singapore launch real-time link for cross-border payments

Indian Overseas Bank

21/02/2023 07:20

By Siddhi Nayak
       MUMBAI, Feb 21 (Reuters) - India and Singapore launched
on Tuesday a real-time link to facilitate easier cross border
money transfers between one of the world's biggest recipients of
remittances and an Asian financial powerhouse.
    Transfers of funds will now be possible using just mobile
phones due to the tie-up between India's Unified Payments
Interface (UPI) and Singapore's PayNow facility. Such
cross-border transfer arrangements typically lower costs of
payments.
    "This will enable people from both the countries to
immediately and at low-cost transfer funds (by) just using their
mobile phones," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a
virtual event for the launch of the service. The linkage will
help migrant workers, professionals, students and their
families, said Modi.
    UPI is an instant real-time payments system, allowing users
to transfer money across multiple banks without disclosing bank
account details. Similarly, PayNow is a service offered by
participating banks that allows sending and receiving Singapore
dollar funds from one bank to another using a mobile number.
    To begin with, State Bank of India  SBI.NS , Indian Overseas
Bank  IOBK.NS , Indian Bank  INBA.NS  and ICICI Bank  ICBK.NS 
will facilitate both inward and outward remittances while Axis
Bank  AXBK.NS  and DBS India will facilitate inward remittances,
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement.
    For Singapore users, the service will be made available
through DBS-Singapore  DBSM.SI  and Liquid Group - a non-bank
financial institution. More number of banks will be included in
the linkage over time, the RBI said.
    To begin with, an Indian user can remit up to 60,000 Indian
rupees ($725.16) a day.
    At the launch event, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong said that cross-border retail payments and remittances
between India and Singapore currently amount to over $1 billion
annually.
    "The UPI-PayNow linkage will grow in utility and will
contribute more in facilitating trade," Lee said.
($1 = 82.7400 Indian rupees)
 (Reporting by Siddhi Nayak)
 ((Siddhi.Nayak@thomsonreuters.com; +91 22 6921 7848;))