UPI of India and NPI of Nepal to enable cross border payments
NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL) joined hands to facilitate cross-border digital payments between India and Nepal by integrating Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and National Payments Interface (NPI) of Nepal. The MoU was exchanged between NIPL, represented by Mr. Ritesh Shukla, CEO and NCHL, represented by Mr. Neelesh Man Singh Pradhan, CEO at Hyderabad House, New Delhi in the honorary presence of H. E. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and H.E. Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', Prime Minister of Nepal during his state visit to India.
The MoU intends to establish a cross border connectivity for financial transactions between the two countries to ease fund transfers and merchant payments by users including students, pilgrims and travelers. The initial engagement will be for inward and outward transfers between the banks in India and Nepal. This will be achieved by integration between UPI of India and NPI of Nepal to enable existing instruments for cross border transactions, which will be subsequently extended for other merchant payments. This is one of the major milestones in the region that intends to inter-connect domestic real-time retail payment systems of two countries to enable cross border payments. UPI is one of the most scalable and advanced payment infrastructures in the world. The integration is also expected to support Nepal to enhance its payment systems.
Based on the MoU, NCHL and NIPL will duly establish technical integration, legal & compliance structure and business aspects of the cross border transactions. For each of the use cases a definitive agreement will be entered between the entities for the rollout. The transaction limit, transaction fees and other control aspects for each of the use cases will be implemented after due consultation and approvals, as may be required, with the respective central banks.
NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is focused on transforming payments across the globe with the use of technology and innovation. NPCI, an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for creating robust digital payment &settlement infrastructure in India. Similarly, NCHL is established under the leadership of Nepal Rastra Bank (The Central Bank of Nepal) with participation of all the banks & financial institutions of Nepal. NCHL has implemented and has been operating multiple national payment, clearing and settlement systems in Nepal, with recent rollout of Retail Payment Switch (RPS) under National Payment Switch (NPS).It is also implementing domestic card scheme (NEPALPAY) as part of the NPS.
