Digital Credit Service to Roll Out in 2023, UPI Services for NRIs to Be Made Available in 10 Countries

The government will roll out digital credit service this year which will enable even small street vendors to avail credit from large banks, Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.

Speaking at 'Digital Payments Utsav', Vaishnaw said it will be rolled out like UPI service and will be a big achievement under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Digital India.

"This year we will be rolling out digital credit and NPCI will take a big lead in that over a period of next 10-12 months. A good construct of digital credit will be created," Vaishnaw said.

At the event, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) unveiled a prototype of voice-based payment system for UPI.

The minister said people will soon be able to make payments by speaking on the phone in their local language.

He said the service will be available in 18 Indian languages.

Speaking at the event, MeitY Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma said now UPI should become a global payments product for which the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has already started partnering with Nepal, Singapore, Bhutan, UK and the UAE where the UPI model is being promoted.

"UPI services will now be enabled to NRIs in 10 countries — Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE, UK and USA," he said.

The IT Secretary further said integration of India's UPI with Singapore's PayNow system is going on which will soon enable real time cross-border payments.

On February 8, the Reserve Bank of India said it has proposed to permit all inbound travellers to India to use UPI for their merchant payments while they are in the country. 

UPI payments system has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India, and its adoption is increasing at a rapid pace.