Indian travellers can pay with UPI in France: PM Modi

Indian travellers can soon pay with UPI in France, Prime Minister Narender Modi confirmed while addressing the Indian community in France. For starters, Indian tourists can buy tickets in rupees to go up to the first and second levels of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. "India and France have agreed to use UPI in France. In the coming days, it will start from the Eiffel Tower, which means Indian tourists will now be able to pay in rupees," PM Modi said. This means that Indian tourists visiting France will now be able to pay in Indian rupees.

The introduction of UPI in France opens exciting possibilities for Indian travellers. With UPI, they no longer need to rely on cumbersome forex cards or carry large amounts of cash. Instead, they can use their mobile phones to make payments seamlessly. Prime Minister Modi had productive meetings with his French counterpart, Elisabeth Borne and Senate President Gerard Larcher during his visit to France. Discussions focused on strengthening the multi-faceted cooperation and long-standing strategic partnership between India and France.

India's UPI system combines multiple bank accounts into a single mobile app, allowing users to access various banking features, easily transfer funds and make payments to merchants. It also facilitates peer-to-peer charging requests, which can be scheduled and paid at each convenience. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) conducted a pilot launch of UPI in April 2016, involving 21 member banks. Since then, the use of UPI has grown tremendously. Even small-scale vendors like tea vendors now accept UPI payments as low as Rs 5 or 10.

In 2022, NPCI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lyra, a fast and secure online payment system in France. This year, UPI also signed an agreement with PayNow, Singapore's payment system, which enables cross-border transactions between the two countries.