Peru to adopt UPI technology, first South American country to do so

India's NIPL inks pact with Peru's central bank to develop the technology

Peru will soon have a UPI-like instant payments system, as NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) -- the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) -- on Wednesday inked a pact with the central bank of the South American country to develop the technology.

This is NIPL’s second partnership with a central bank to deploy the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) stack in the international market. In May this year, the payments body entered into an agreement with the Bank of Namibia (BoN) for developing an instant payment system like UPI in the African nation.

Ritesh Shukla, chief executive officer (CEO), NIPL, said, “Our partnership with the BCRP aims to strengthen Peru’s financial infrastructure, to foster economic growth. Once live, Peruvian citizens will gain access to an unparalleled level of convenience, security, and efficiency in financial transactions.”

The partnership will facilitate instant payments between individuals and businesses, and expand the use of digital payments to Peru’s unbanked population. 

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“The support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been a cornerstone of this agreement. The BCRP (Central Reserve Bank of Peru) aims to promote financial inclusion, security, and efficiency, and to introduce new use cases in digital payments. Additionally, we consider that this new infrastructure will play a fundamental role in fostering innovation and in allowing new participants to enter the Peruvian ecosystem,” said Julio Velarde, BCRP Governor. 

The development follows NPCI’s push to take UPI rails international after breaking into other markets such as France, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Mauritius.

In January 2024, NPCI announced the launch of the UPI-PayNow linkage that enables Indians to receive remittances directly into their bank accounts from Singapore and vice-versa.

In February this year, it announced a partnership with e-commerce and proximity payments company Lyra, to enable UPI acceptance in France.

The same month, UPI services were rolled out in Sri Lanka and Mauritius.