SBI partners with PayNow for cross-border payments through BHIM app

A day after real-time payment system linkage was established between India and Singapore using the UPI platform, State Bank of India on Wednesday announced a partnership with the city-state’s online payment system PayNow for cross-border payments.

This facility is offered through SBI Bhim SBIPay mobile application and linkage will allow fund transfer from India to Singapore and from Singapore to India through registered mobile numbers. UPI IDthe bank said in a statement.

The UPI-PayNow linkage is an important milestone towards developing an infrastructure for cross-border payments between the two countries and the initiative aligns closely with the G20 priorities of making cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more transparent. corresponds to.

The bank said that inward bilateral remittances between the two countries in 2021 stood at around $949 million (about Rs 7,860 crore).

Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das and Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the RBI’s counterpart in the city-state, carried out the first live cross-border transaction using BHIM SBIPay, the bank said. .

“The linkage of these two payment systems will enable residents of both the countries to initiate faster and more cost-effective transfers of cross-border remittances. It will also help Indian expatriates, professionals, students and workers in Singapore through instant means of access,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi Low-cost transfer of money both ways, the statement said.

“The amount of cross-border retail payments and remittances between the two countries exceeds $1 billion (about Rs 8,300 crore) annually. The UPI-PayNow linkage will grow in utility as we progressively add more users and use cases And will contribute more to facilitating our trade and people-to-people contacts, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was quoted as saying.

SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara said this initiative will go a long way in promoting digitization initiatives, providing easy, seamless cross-border payment facilities to users.