NPCI's international arm extends UPI payments system to Bhutan

NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the International arm of the National Payment Corporation of India and Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) of Bhutan have partnered for enabling and implementing BHIM UPI QR-based payments in Bhutan. 

The Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan is the central bank of the country.

The service will be formally launched on 13 July 2021 and according to NPCI, it will benefit more than 200,000 tourists from India who travel to Bhutan each year. 

With this launch, Bhutan will become the first country to adopt UPI standards for its QR deployment. 

NPCI has been planning to expand its service to international markets. Last year, it incorporated NIPL to explore its use cases beyond India. The entity had recently tied up with payments technology and transaction processing firm Financial Software and Systems. 

Besides UPI, NIPL is also working to take NPCI’s domestic card scheme RuPay outside of India. Last year, RuPay cardholders in India were allowed to access ATMs and Point of Sale (PoS) terminals across Bhutan and vice versa.