NPCI International has just made mobile payments for Indian tourists in Europe a lot easier

NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) — the driver of digital payments in India — has joined forces with global payment services provider Worldline in a move to expand the acceptance of Indian payment means across Europe.

The partnership will benefit Indian customers in the European markets by allowing merchants’ point-of-sale (POS) systems to accept payments from UPI as well as RuPay. This will result in a multitude of customer-related merchant benefits due to an increase in footfall and spending from Indian tourists, a press release said.

"Currently, customers from India pay through international card networks. However, UPI allows multiple bank accounts to be accessed through one single mobile application. This will enhance customer experience whilst opening up new business prospects for merchants," the release said.

This will be powered by Worldline QR, the company’s universal product for the acceptance of all QR-based payments. The first target markets for NIPL are set to include BENELUX and Switzerland with further plans for expansion, as Worldline QR is rolled out in more European countries.

India is one of the most important tourist markets for Europe with an estimated 10 million Indians travelling to the region each year prior to the pandemic, according to Schengen Visa. Now, as the impacts of COVID-19 begin to subside, that number is expected to significantly increase.

“Our partnership with NPCI International seeks to mitigate the risk of excluding or limiting Indian customers from safely using electronic payments in the EU," Marc-Henri Desportes, Deputy CEO of Worldline, said.

In 2021, UPI recorded 38.74 billion transactions, worth $954.58 billion, making it the best performing real-time payment ecosystem in the world, the release said, adding, similarly, 714 million RuPay cards have been issued till date, clocking over 1.3 billion transactions.

“The roll-out of acceptance of UPI-powered apps and RuPay cards across Europe is important to us, as we expect increased mobility of Indians in the continent in the coming years," NIPL CEO Ritesh Shukla said.