How Global UPI Can Save Diaspora Billions In Remittance Costs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is championing the global expansion of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to reduce remittance costs for the diaspora and establish India's leadership in digital payment standards, urging the fintech sector to innovate beyond payments into cybersecurity and ethical data protection.

Urging the ecosystem not to rest on the laurels of the last decade when UPI became a ubiquitous platform for real-time payments across the country, the Prime Minister said the next aim should be to expand UPI's reach. He said the focus should be on countries that are home to a large diaspora, have high trade volumes with India, or are willing to partner with us while connecting the systems.

Why Global UPI Matters For The Diaspora

"This is essential because Indians work in large numbers in foreign countries. They are the largest remitters of money. A part of the remittances goes away as transaction costs; UPI can help in saving on these costs and the money can also reach families faster," he said.

He said global card payments currently run on systems designed in other countries, but underlined that India now has the alternative on the same. "We can set our own rules and standards and connect them with the world," Modi said.

Beyond Payments: The Future Of Indian Fintech

Reiterating French President Emmanuel Macron's words, the Prime Minister said UPI is not only a tech story but also a civilizational one. He said that after the high number of successes on the payments front over the last many years, the next chapter for the Indian fintech industry should be non-payment transactions.

The Prime Minister also urged the fintech community to develop top-notch cybersecurity solutions, ethical data protection standards, and underlined the need for a fintech regulatory ecosystem and a fintech consumer protection index, which can help rate every company on transparency.