The Reserve Bank has allowed inbound travellers from G20 nations arriving at select airports to use the popular UPI for making payments in the country. RBI plans to later extend the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) facility to travellers from all countries. UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood.
“UPI has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India. It is now proposed to permit all inbound travellers to India to use UPI for their merchant payments (P2M) while they are in the country,” said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

Pilot starts with G20 countries
The facility will be initially extended to travellers from G20 countries arriving at select international airports. The governor said that the facility will be enabled across all entry points in the country, starting at select international airports. “Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become a ubiquitous payment instrument for retail electronic payments in India. An enhancement has recently been made to provide UPI access to non-resident Indians who have international mobile numbers linked to their NRE / NRO accounts. It is now proposed to permit all inbound travellers to India also to access UPI for their merchant payments (P2M) while they are in the country,” RBI said in a statement.
The governor also announced that the Reserve Bank will launch a pilot project on QR Code based Coin Vending Machine (QCVM) in 12 cities.

What is G20
The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies. India has assumed the presidency of G20 for one year from December 1, 2022 to 30 November, 2023. It comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).