The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Reserve Bank of India today have announced their intent to link Singapore’s PayNow and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) real-time payment systems by July 2022.
The goal is to provide instantaneous, low-cost fund transfers directly from one bank account to another between the two countries. In a public statement, MAS said that when implemented, fund transfers can be made from India to Singapore using mobile phone numbers, and from Singapore to India using UPI virtual payment addresses (VPA). MAS described the forthcoming link as a significant upgrade to the cross-border payment systems of today.
Singapore is believed as a top Asian Fintech hub with a supportive regulatory environment that advocates for responsible innovation.
Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of MAS, commented:
“By reducing the cost and inefficiencies of remittances between Singapore and India, the PayNow-UPI linkage will directly benefit individuals and businesses in Singapore and India that greatly rely on this mode of payment. Given that PayNow and UPI are integral components of their respective national digital infrastructures, the link between the two systems also paves the way for establishing more comprehensive digital connectivity and interoperability between the two countries.”