Govt, RBI In Talks With Ant International To Link Alipay+ With UPI: Report
To further expand UPI internationally, the union government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are reportedly in discussions with global digital payment giant Ant International to link its cross-border digital payment, Alipay+, with UPI.
As per a Reuters’ report, citing sources, the initiative would help Indian tourists use UPI with overseas merchants who are registered on Alipay+ application.
Inc42 has reached out to Ant International. The story will be updated based on its responses.
Ant International, a former subset of China’s Ant Group, spun off in 2024 as an independent, Singapore-headquartered fintech company. Ant International focusses on cross-border payment technology, digital commerce and financial services. It operates across Asia, China, Europe, USA and Australia.
Alipay+ is one of its offerings through which the company facilitates users with cross border payments through a unified wallet service.
This is not the first time that UPI would be integrating with a Singapore-based company. Last year, NPCI partnered with full-stack payments infrastructure firm HitPay to facilitate UPI payments across Singapore.This partnership was aimed at enabling Indian travellers to make QR code-based payments across tourist establishments in Singapore.
In 2023,UPI partnered with Singapore’s PayNow enabling cross-border transactions between the two countries. Now, with the potential partnership with Ant International, UPI is looking to expand across a larger merchant network.
Domestically, UPI transactions hit a fresh all-time high with 21.7 Bntransactions recorded in the month of January. Besides, the government has allocated INR 2,000 Cr under the incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions of up to INR 2,000 for 2026-27.
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