During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, a significant agreement was reached between India and the UAE to interlink their payment platforms and domestic debit or credit cards. As per the ministry of external affairs, the development centred on linking instant payment platforms UPI of India and AANI of the UAE. This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding on interlinking payment and messaging systems in July last year during the PM’s visit to Abu Dhabi.
Prime Minister Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan also witnessed the exchange of another agreement on interlinking domestic debit/credit cards — RuPay (India) with JAYWAN (UAE). As per the ministry, this will enhance the universal acceptance of RuPay across the UAE.
Even though these agreements are still in their early stages and the specific details of implementation are yet to be known, they facilitate two main objectives: seamless cross-border transactions and enhanced card acceptance.
Interlinking UPI and AANI
This connects India’s UPI with the UAE’s instant payment platform AANI. Because of this interlinking, people can directly send and receive money between bank accounts in the two countries using just mobile phone numbers (similar to how UPI works domestically). Also, businesses can accept payments from each other’s countries instantly and securely, boosting trade and commerce.
Sending money from India to the UAE is expected to become easy with the linked UPI-AANI system. So someone from India can simply open the UPI app and enter the recipient’s UAE mobile number and the amount that needs to be sent. The Indian bank will securely transmit the request through dedicated channels to AANI.
AANI will identify the recipient’s bank and forward the request. Within seconds, the recipient’s bank will verify everything and credit the money directly to the account, completing the transaction instantly and conveniently.
Interlinking RuPay and JAYWAN
This connects India’s RuPay cards with UAE’s domestic card scheme, JAYWAN. It means Indian tourists and businesses can use their tap-and-pay RuPay cards directly to process a payment, eliminating currency conversion fees and reliance on foreign cards.
Prime Minister Modi congratulated the UAE President on the debut of the UAE’s domestic card, JAYWAN, which is based on the digital RuPay credit and debit card stack. The leaders also observed a transaction performed using the JAYWAN card.
The digital RuPay card stack refers to the underlying technology and infrastructure that powers these cards in India. This includes things like card network protocols for communication between merchants, banks, and payment processors, as well as security features for ensuring safe transactions.
So JAYWAN will now utilise this RuPay technology as its foundation. This means JAYWAN cards will share similar functionalities and processes with RuPay cards. By leveraging RuPay’s technology, JAYWAN cards benefit from its existing infrastructure and network.
So RuPay cards issued in India could now be used at merchants accepting JAYWAN cards in the UAE, and vice versa. This eliminates the need for separate cards for each country, offering convenience for travellers and businesses.
A day earlier, PM Modi had announced UPI and RuPay card services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das were among those present at the virtual event.
The UPI payments service is now accepted in seven foreign nations. These are France, the UAE, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Singapore, and Bhutan.
Comments
0 comment