The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have launched a real-time payment system linkage between Singapore’s PayNow and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
According to the announcement, this is the world’s first real-time payment system linkage to use a scalable cloud-based infrastructure that can accommodate future increases in remittance traffic.
Customers of participating financial institutions in both countries will now be able to send and receive funds between bank accounts or e-wallets using just a mobile phone number, UPI identity, or virtual payment address.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi officiated the launch, with MAS managing director Ravi Menon and RBI governor Shaktikanta Das executing live cross-border fund transfers to each other from their respective locations in Singapore and India.
DBS Bank and Liquid Group will offer the service to Singapore customers under a phased approach, where they will progressively increase the number of eligible user groups and transaction limits.
The participating financial institutions have committed to ensuring that the service is cost-efficient and accessible, including for foreign workers and students residing in Singapore and India.
