UPI Expands Its Reach: UAE Merchants Now Accept Rupee Payments to Attract Indian Shoppers

UAE Merchants Embrace UPI for Rupee Payments to Attract Indian Customers

New Delhi, August 17: Government of India is promoting UPI as a universal payment platform. Now merchants in United Arab Emirates (UAE) are making payments in rupees through UPI to attract Indian customers. Lulu, one of the largest retail companies in the UAE, has started offering customers the option to pay through UPI across all its stores in the country.

Indian citizens can easily make payments using the UPI app just like in India. The amount paid will be deducted from their bank account in India. So Indian citizens and NRIs can shop in UAE with UPI as easily as in India. UPI payments were launched in the UAE in early July. Apart from Lulu, payments through UPI are accepted by many large and small merchants across the UAE.

Indian citizens and NRIs in the UAE can easily make payments through QR codes at Point of Sale (POS) machines. According to NPCI: “The number of Indian travelers to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is estimated to reach 98 lakh by 2024. About 53 lakh Indians are likely to reach the UAE alone.”

Government of India, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and NPCI International are working together to promote UPI on a global platform. UPI is officially accepted in Nepal. Sri Lanka. Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, France and Bhutan.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based transactions rose 35 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in July to Rs 20.64 lakh crore from Rs 20.07 lakh crore. The total number of UPI transactions rose nearly 4 percent (month-on-month) to 14.44 billion from 13.89 billion in the previous month.
As the UPI success story is being adopted by many countries, the average daily transaction volume was 466 million last month, up from 463 million in June.