Travellers from G20 can use UPI for payments at select airports: RBI Governor

The Reserve Bank on Wednesday allowed inbound travellers from G20 nations arriving at select airports to use the popular UPI for making payments in the country.

Later, the RBI also proposes to extend the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) facility to travellers from all countries.

UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.

"UPI has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India. It is now proposed to permit all inbound travellers to India to use UPI for their merchant payments (P2M) while they are in the country," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while unveiling the latest monetary policy.

To begin with, the facility will be extended to travellers from G20 countries arriving at select international airports, he said.

India has assumed the presidency of G20 for one year from December 1, 2022 to 30 November, 2023.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies.

It comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).

Payment transactions through UPI rose 1.3 per cent on-month to a high of nearly ₹13 lakh crore in January.

The governor also announced that the Reserve Bank will launch a pilot project on QR Code based Coin Vending Machine (QCVM) in 12 cities.

These vending machines will dispense coins against debit to the customer’s account using UPI instead of physical tendering of bank notes.

"This will enhance the ease of accessibility to coins," Das said and added that based on the learnings from the pilot, guidelines will be issued to banks to promote distribution of coins using these machines.