New Delhi – Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in the sultanate will soon be able to access the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) using their Oman mobile numbers for transactions, according to Indian officials.

UPI is an instant real-time payment system, which currently processes more peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions than peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, in terms of volume in India. The transaction is done through mobile phones in easy steps. No charges are applied for UPI transactions.

Dr Ausaf Sayeed, Secretary – Consular, Passport, Visa & Overseas Indian Affairs in India’s Ministry of External affairs, informed Muscat Daily that the implementation process is currently underway. “We are all keen to launch the service. UPI-based remittance solutions will go a long way in facilitating the 653,000 Indians living in Oman in sending money back home seamlessly,” he said.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), NPCI International Payments Ltd of India (NIPL) and Central Bank of Oman (CBO) last year enabled the acceptance of Indian RuPay cards issued by banks in India at all OmanNet network ATMs, POS and E-commerce sites as well as reciprocal acceptance of Oman cards/mobile payment clearing and switching system in the networks of NPCI in India.

Sayeed added that the MoU between NPCI and CBO is a milestone in bilateral relations between India and Oman and will play an important role in strengthening people-to-people ties and benefiting both economies in many ways.

Nehal Shah, Business Development In-Charge at International Payments Limited Middle East and Africa, said, “Backed by best-in-class technology, we want to collaborate globally to enable retail digital payments as public good for the world. With UPI, India is the global leader in digital payments.”

UPI processed 7.83bn financial transactions of over US$154bn in December 2022, with a total of 74bn financial transactions in 2022, growing from 49bn in 2021. “UPI has been an enabler of digital payments in India and we are focused on its continuous evolution to include newer use cases to drive cash displacement,” Shah added.