NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has joined forces with Lyra, a French player in securing e-commerce and proximity payments, to introduce the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment mechanism in France. This initiative begins with the Eiffel Tower, where Indian tourists can now book tickets online using their UPI-powered apps.
Indians are the second-largest group of international visitors to the Eiffel Tower, so the announcement is particularly significant.
The collaboration allows Indian tourists to make secure online transactions by scanning a QR code generated on the merchant website using their UPI apps, NPCI said.
Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL said, “We aim at actively collaborating with financial institutions worldwide to provide consumers with convenient and secure cross-border payment solutions.”
Christophe Mariette, Commercial Director of Lyra France, highlighted the partnership’s potential for the tourism sector, saying, “For the players in the French and European tourism ecosystem, this partnership represents a major advancement and the promise of new business opportunities to come.”
Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the agreement between India and France on the usage of the UPI mechanism.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with France’s Lyra in 2022.
Enabling UPI payments in France signifies that Indian tourists can make payments in rupees through UPI.
While credit and debit cards often incur markup charges ranging from 0.99 to 3.5 percent for international payments, experts earlier suggested that using UPI in France might be exempt from these charges.
This is due to payments being made in rupees and the collaborative agreement between India’s NPCI and France’s Lyra Network.
In an earlier conversation with CNBC-TV18.com, Adhil Shetty, CEO at BankBazaar.com, acknowledged the potential for some additional transaction and currency conversion fees with international forex transactions.
“The exact charges and fees for international UPI transactions may vary depending on the banks, payment service providers, and regulatory guidelines in place,” Shetty explained.
With over 380 million users, UPI has become a dominant payment method in India, recording over 12.2 billion transactions in January 2024 alone.