Last week, India's central bank announced that it will soon allow foreign travellers to use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to make payments in India. On February 10, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) provided more details on how this will work. Essentially, foreign travellers will be able to load prepaid wallets— linked to UPI—with Indian Rupees and use the same to pay at online and offline stores that accept UPI. Why does this matter: As we wrote in our earlier post, allowing foreign travellers to use UPI means that they will not have to carry large amounts of cash on them or rely on debit and credit cards that are not accepted as widely as UPI. What is UPI: UPI allows users to scan a QR code (or enter a payment address) using any UPI-enabled app on their smartphone (such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, etc) to make payments to merchants or to send money to other people. The UPI app is linked to a bank account or other payment instruments like a prepaid wallet. It is the most popular form of digital payment in India with over a 60 percent market share. What new rules allow foreign travellers to use UPI: Since the existing regulatory framework doesn't allow foreigners to open a bank or prepaid account that can be linked to UPI, RBI has had to modify its Directions on Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs). Specifically, RBI has added a new paragraph 10.3 to the PPI directions, that lays out the following: Banks and non-banks can…
