Alphabet Inc.’s Google Pay is set to collaborate with India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a mobile-based payment system handling billions of transactions monthly, aiming to extend its services beyond India, according to several media reports.
Google India Digital Services Pvt and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have signed an agreement to facilitate international payments for Indian travelers and establish UPI-like digital payment systems in other countries.
The partnership aligns with NPCI’s efforts to enhance India’s position in the global digital payment landscape, reducing reliance on traditional remittance channels. The move reflects Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s ambition to globalize UPI, exemplified by the previous linkage of India and Singapore’s systems for real-time money transfers. Explorations for similar collaborations with countries such as Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates have also been underway.
In November, the UPI platform witnessed transactions amounting to Rs 17.4 trillion ($209 billion), according to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India. The collaboration between Google Pay and UPI signifies a strategic move to tap into this robust payment ecosystem and extend its reach beyond the borders of India.