Ever since its launch in 2016, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has transformed the world of digital payments in India. Today, almost all digital wallets and online payment apps in India have incorporated UPI. On May 15, Wednesday, PhonePe, a popular mobile payment platform, which was one of the first apps to adopt UPI, started its UPI service in Sri Lanka. Now, PhonePe users can scan LankaPay QR codes to make digital payments. This is set to reduce the Indian tourist’s dependency on cash transactions and cut down the hassle of calculating currency conversions.
The launch event for PhonePe UPI activation was attended by Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe and India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha. According to a December 2023 report by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, a whopping 66 per cent of tourists visiting Sri Lanka were from India. The prevalence of PhonePe UPI will serve Indian tourists in the island nation.
In February, UPI was launched in Sri Lanka and Mauritius in a virtual event. It was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth and President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe. While addressing the event via video conferencing, PM Modi said the UPI launch would strengthen cross-border transactions as well as cross-border connections between the three nations. He also described Unified Payment Interface (UPI) as “Uniting Partners with India”.
Mauritius Prime Minister Jugnauth, said, “India and Mauritius share strong cultural, commercial and people-to-people linkages which date back centuries ago. Today we are giving yet another dimension to this relationship.” Sri Lanka President Wickremesinghe said that the launch of UPI in Sri Lanka was an important milestone in “upgrading” the financial and commercial relations between India and Sri Lanka, which had been taking place for hundreds of years.
UPI, an instant real-time payment system that enables inter-bank transactions through mobiles, was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). UPI got a boost in use and popularity after the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes on November 8, 2016.
According to data from the NPCI, in just January 2024, UPI transactions accounted for Rs 18.41 lakh crore (equivalent to $222.17 billion), this was a 41 per cent increase in transaction value compared to January 2023.
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