FAQ

India's UPI and RuPay cards to be accepted in France soon

Tags: Economy/Finance

On 16 June 2022, NPCI International Payments Limited (NPCIL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with French payment services company Lyra Networks for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and soon-to-be-accepted RuPay card in France.

• According to Union Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, an agreement has been signed for the use of Rupay card and UPI in France.

• About 5.5 billion UPI transactions are being done every month in the country.

Importance of Indian Rupay card growing globally: 

• The importance of Indian RuPay card is increasing rapidly globally.

• Before France, transactions with RuPay cards have started in countries like Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

• Rupay Card is India's first such domestic debit and credit card payment network that can be easily used at ATMs, POS machines and e-commerce sites.

Opposition to Rupay Card:

• Indian Rupay card has always been promoted by PM Modi. But foreign companies like debit and credit card payment service Mastercard and Visa have been opposing the RuPay card.

• There was an allegation of Mastcard and Visa that RuPay card is being promoted on behalf of PM Modi by putting patriotism ahead.

Rupay Card:

• Rupay Card was launched on 8 May 2014. Although NPCI started Rupay service in April 2013 itself.

• Rupay Card issues 15 types of cards, which include three credit cards, six debit cards, one global card, four prepaid cards and one contactless card.

• Apart from credit and debit cards, Rupay card also offers four types of prepaid cards. In which there are gift cards, petrol cards, student cards, and virtual cards.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI):

• UPI is an improved version of Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). It is a round-the-clock money transfer service to make cashless payments faster and easier.

• UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts, multiple banking facilities, seamless fund routing and merchant payments, through a single mobile application (of any participating bank).

• Currently UPI is the largest among the systems operated by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) including National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), etc. Is.

• Today's top UPI apps include PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay and BHIM App.

• NPCI launched UPI in the year 2016 with 21 member banks.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI):

• NPCI, an umbrella organization for operating retail payment and settlement systems in India, has been initiated by the 'RBI' and the 'Indian Banks' Association' (IBA) under the 'Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007'.

• It is a 'not-for-profit' company established under the provisions of Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013), with the objective of providing physical and electronic payment infrastructure to the entire banking system in India.