Starting on Tuesday, citizens of Singapore and India will be able to send money to one another quickly. It will be possible via PayNow and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). At 11 a.m. on Monday, Shaktikanta Das, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, officially began the connection of cross-border real-time payment systems. Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and Narendra Modi of India virtually attended the inaugural event.
Indians can send money to individuals in Singapore using Google Pay, Paytm, and other comparable digital payment systems. Further by taking use of the project’s low-cost, quicker, and always-on cross-border connectivity.
Why UPI and Pay Now for money transfer?
A virtual payment address (VPA) that the consumer creates allows them to make round-the-clock payments instantaneously. This happens using India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a mobile-based fast payment system. It also removes the danger of the remitter disclosing bank account information. UPI allows users to transfer or receive money and supports both Person-to-Person (P2P) and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payments.
Singapore has a quick payment mechanism called PayNow. Peer-to-peer funds transfer services are enabled, and retail clients in Singapore can also use them through participating banks. Also, Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs). By utilising merely their mobile number, Singapore National Registration Identity Card (NRIC)/Foreign Identification Number (FIN), or VPA. Customers are able to send and receive quick cash from one bank or e-wallet account to another in Singapore.
The benefits of the integration:
Users of the two rapid payment systems will be able to send and receive funds instantly and cheaply. All thanks to the UPI-PayNow linkage without having to sign up for the other system.
The rapid and inexpensive money transfers from Singapore to India and vice versa will also benefit the Indian diaspora in Singapore, particularly migrant workers and students. According to the RBI Remittance Survey, 2021, Singapore’s proportion of the total inward remittances to India in 2020–21 was 5.7%.
For more news, click here.
