UPI-PayNow Integration for Cross-Border Payments: 5 Points on What the System Aims to Achieve

The UPI-PayNow integration will help ease cross-border remittance payments between Singapore and India.

Written by David Delima, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 21 February 2023 13:31 IST

Highlights

The plan to integrate UPI-PayNow was initiated in 2021
Users in both countries will be able to transfer funds at cheaper rates
UPI and PayNow users can send funds using only their phone numbers

The RBI and Singapore's MAS announced the integration of the payment systems on Wednesday

Photo Credit: Reuters

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the real-time bank-to-bank money transfer system developed and maintained by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) gained support for integration with its counterpart in Singapore, PayNow. Customers will be able to quickly send funds to and from the two countries at cheaper rates. Both UPI and PayNow offer similar features, including the ability to pay other users or request fund using only the sender or recipient's mobile phone number or a virtual payment address.

The launch and linkage of cross-border connectivity for both UPI and PayNow was announced on Tuesday by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Managing Director Ravi Menon.

Upi Discussion

Explore More...

Here are five points on the newly launched integration.

Singapore is the first country to allow cross-border Person to Person (P2P) payments with users in India and these cross-border payments can be completed using smartphones.
The UPI-PayNow integration between India and Singapore will allow for faster, low-cost transfer of funds between users in India and Singapore, as long as they are registered users of one of the payment systems.
Both UPI and PayNow allow users to send and receive funds via bank-to-bank transfers, and the sender and recipient can identify each other using their mobile numbers or VPA. This eliminates the need to share bank details with the recipient, which improves the privacy and safety of users participating in the transaction.
According to details shared by the RBI announcing the new integration, select merchant outlets in Singapore have already begun accepting UPI payments through the use of QR codes.
The system to integrate the payment mechanisms for both countries could also come in handy for remittances, and other regular payments for students and migrant workers from India in Singapore and vice versa.

The OnePlus 11 5G was launched at the company's Cloud 11 launch event which also saw the debut of several other devices. We discuss this new handset and all of OnePlus' new hardware on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Samsung Wallet Adds Fingerprint Authentication for UPI Payments Up to Rs 10,000 in India

24 September 2026

Using UPI for More Than Rs 2,000? Here’s What It Means for Your Wallet

15 September 2026

NPCI Launches UPI Tap & Pay, MyUPI With NFC Payments and AI-Powered Tools

11 September 2026

NPCI to Soon Allow Users to Port UPI AutoPay Mandates Across Digital Payments Platforms: Report

31 August 2026

PhonePe UPI 123Pay Enables UPI Payments Without Internet on Feature Phones in India

31 August 2026

UPI-PayNow Integration for Cross-Border Payments: 5 Points on What the System Aims to Achieve

Related Stories