National Payments Corp (NPCI) to take UPI, RuPay global through new subsidiary to expand reach

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is taking its business beyond Indian shores through its subsidiary NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL).

With the launch of NIPL, NPCI is aiming to take UPI and the Government-backed RuPay Card global, and also to help other nations in establishment of a real-time payment system, or a domestic card scheme.

The formation of a separate entity has come at a time when UPI has been breaking all previous records in terms of processing volume (transactions) and value. July turned out to be the best ever month for UPI as it posted 1.49 billion transactions worth Rs 2,90,537 crore or Rs 2.9 trillion.

NPCI was built with the aim to revolutionise domestic digital payments. It has come a long way since its inception. What started with ATM switches, has now moved to biometric payments and instant smartphone-based fund transfer through UPI and RuPay card-based payments. Now, the Mumbai-based retail payments body intends to take its offerings global.

It has appointed Ritesh Shukla as the Chief Executive of NIPL with the main task of business development and driving profitability in international markets. Shukla was part of Mastercard’s business in Middle East and North Africa before joining NPCI. He also worked with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI Cards previously.

It should further be noted that the international expansion of NPCI will help expand the acceptance networks of RuPay and UPI which will further empower the Indian travellers to use these homegrown payment channels and platforms.

Meanwhile, the RuPay Card has already been on global expansion, with its services having been launched in Singapore, Bhutan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Myanmar, Australia and South Korea.

“It is a matter of pride for NPCI that several countries such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East have displayed interest towards replicating our model in their own nation. We look forward to witness NIPL scaling new highs by offering NPCI’s innovations to several nations and showcase a true example of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” said Dilip Asbe, CEO, NPCI.

Apart from existing QR-code and mobile number based payments solutions, NPCI is also planning to enable near field communication or NFC-based payment facility by partnering banks and PoS device makers in India. 

The story has been updated after NPCI’s press release to reflect Ritesh Shukla’s appointed as CEO of NIPL and comeback of Anubhav Sharma at NPCI.