NPCI and Worldline collaborates to bring UPI and RuPay services to all of Europe

Customers from India will be able to pay with RuPay and UPI at point-of-sale (POS) terminals in European markets.

Worldline, a supplier of global payment services, has partnered with NPCI International Payments to increase the adoption of Indian payment methods throughout Europe. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the organisation that propels digital payments in India, has a global division called NPCI International Payments.

According to a joint statement released by the two organisations on Tuesday, Worldline will increase convenience for Indian customers in European markets by enabling point-of-sale (POS) systems at merchant locations to accept payments from both UPI and RuPay, NPCI’s exclusive card payment network solution.

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Due to an increase in foot traffic and expenditure from Indian tourists, this is anticipated to have a variety of customer-related business benefits.

Indian clients currently use international card networks to make payments.

However, the wildly popular UPI enables access to numerous bank accounts through a single mobile application, which will improve customer experience and create new business opportunities for retailers, according to the joint statement.

“Facilitated via Worldline QR, the company’s universal product for the acceptance of all QR-based payments, the first target markets for NIPL are set to include BENELUX and Switzerland with further plans for expansion, as Worldline QR is rolled out in more European countries,” it added.

According to the statement, which cited Schengen Visa, India is one of the most significant tourist destinations for Europe, with an estimated 10 million Indians visiting the continent year before the pandemic. That amount, it claimed, is now anticipated to considerably rise when COVID-19’s effects start to fade.

“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,” said Marc-Henri Desportes, Deputy CEO of Worldline in the statement.

The best-performing real-time payment ecosystem in the world is NPCI’s UPI technology, which processed 38.74 billion transactions worth $954.58 billion (approximately Rs. 78,52,900 crore). Similar to RuPay cards, 714 million have been distributed, totaling more than 1.3 billion transactions.

“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. The roll-out of acceptance of 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,” said Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NPCI International Payments in the statement.