Central bank institutions?of Singapore?and India?will link their real-time payment systems next week to enhance cross-border payment connectivity

Linking Singapore’s PayNow with India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) will allow seamless cross-border transactions. Image: pixabay

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have scheduled the linkage of their national real-time payment systems for February 21. The move is supposed to enhance cross-border payment connectivity between the two countries.

Linking Singapore’s PayNow with India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) will allow seamless cross-border transactions at a “highly competitive rate,” according to MAS.

Similar partnerships have already occurred in the region. Thus, Singapore has previously connected its real-time payments system?with Thailand’s PromptPay, while India is also planning a partnership with Malaysia in the near future.

Ultimately, Asian countries aim to develop an interoperable cross-border system for QR code-based payments under the ASEAN Payment Connectivity Initiative.

Interoperability will greatly facilitate remittances between the citizens of these countries. Currently, remittances from Singapore to India equal no less than S$1 billion (US$749 million) since many Indians come to work in the city-state. In other direction, the remittance flow is S$200 – 300 million (US$149 ?– 224.7 million), according to?MAS calculations.