Indian expats in Oman can soon make UPI payments

Indian expats in Oman can soon make UPI payments

New Delhi – Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in the sultanate will soon be able to access the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) using their Oman mobile numbers for transactions, according to Indian officials.

UPI is an instant real-time payment system, which currently processes more peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions than peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, in terms of volume in India. The transaction is done through mobile phones in easy steps. No charges are applied for UPI transactions.

Dr Ausaf Sayeed, Secretary – Consular, Passport, Visa & Overseas Indian Affairs in India’s Ministry of External affairs, informed Muscat Daily that the implementation process is currently underway. “We are all keen to launch the service. UPI-based remittance solutions will go a long way in facilitating the 653,000 Indians living in Oman in sending money back home seamlessly,” he said.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), NPCI International Payments Ltd of India (NIPL) and Central Bank of Oman (CBO) last year enabled the acceptance of Indian RuPay cards issued by banks in India at all OmanNet network ATMs, POS and E-commerce sites as well as reciprocal acceptance of Oman cards/mobile payment clearing and switching system in the networks of NPCI in India.

Sayeed added