Muscat: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) International Payments Ltd (NIPL) of India and the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) as part of the ongoing visit of India’s Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan.
This MoU will enable the acceptance of Indian RuPay cards issued by banks in India at all OmanNet network ATMs, POS & E-commerce sites; as well as reciprocal acceptance of Oman cards/MPCSS in the networks of NPCI in India, a statement from the Indian Embassy in Oman said.
The MOU will also enable building partnerships for real-time cross-border remittances between India and Oman using UPI rails.
Reciprocal acceptance of respective payment cards and cooperation in building cutting-edge remittance solutions based on the UPI platform will not only facilitate and promote two-way travel and tourism, but UPI-based remittance solutions will also go a long way in facilitating the large Indian diaspora in Oman in sending money back to India seamlessly, the statement said.
In recent years, India has emerged as a global leader in digital finance and mobile-based payment solutions, with India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) revolutionizing the digital payment space.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood. It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.
In the month of September 2022, the number of transactions on India’s UPI platform crossed 6.78 billion amounting to over Rs. 11.16 trillion.
The MOU between NPCI and CBO is a milestone in bilateral relations between India and Oman and will play an important role in strengthening the people-to-people ties and benefiting both economies
