You can soon pay for goods and services using Unified Payment Interface (UPI) while travelling in Europe, courtesy a partnership between the Paris-based Worldline Payments and the international arm of National Payments Company of India (NPCI).
NPCI’s international arm is called NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), and they have been quite active in striking up deals with international payment companies for the wider outreach of UPI and the convenience of Indian travellers.
For instance, NIPL partnered with NEOPAY in April 2022, the fintech subsidiary of Mashreq Bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for acceptance of UPI across the Emirati kingdom.
Similar partnerships have been struck for UPI to work in the UK, Bhutan and other counties.
“The collaboration will see Worldline become the first EU acquirer to offer Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay, two products of the National Payments Company of India (NPCI), to European merchants while providing an opportunity for them to build on their Indian customer base,” Worldline said in a press release.
Ritesh Shukla, CEO, NIPL, says: “In Worldline, we found a partner that provides us with good coverage of the European markets as well as an advanced and universally applicable solution.”
He adds: “The roll-out of acceptance of the 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. We believe this partnership will empower Indian consumers to continue using their preferred payment modes as they travel across Europe.”
What Does This New European Partnership Mean For You?
In a release, Worldline payments said that this partnership between them and NIPL will allow European merchants’ point of sale (POS) machines to start accepting UPI payments as well as RuPay payments with India’s indigenously developed card payment network solution.
This will directly benefit Indian tourists visiting Europe who want to pay for their goods and services in Europe using UPI and RuPay cards.
Worldline mentioned that their QR-based payment solution will be used for facilitating such transactions, and NIPL, in its first target markets, decided to include Benelux and Switzerland, and will later progress on implementing UPI in other European countries.
Marc-Henri Desportes, Deputy CEO, Worldline, says: “Our analyses of international customers’ payment behaviour have indicated a push away from international card schemes in recent times, and a preference for any mobile payment method they are acquainted with. Our partnership with NPCI International seeks to mitigate the risk of excluding or limiting Indian customers from safely using electronic payments in the EU.”
