NPCI, PPRO ink deal to offer hassle-free e-commerce payments globally

NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) on Thursday executed a definitive agreement with digital payments infrastructure provider PPRO to offer Indian customers a platform for hassle-free e-commerce payments globally.

The agreement aims at expanding RuPay card and UPI acceptance across PPRO's global clients, such as payment service providers (PSPs) and global merchant acquirers, a joint statement said.

This association will drive NIPL's continued expansion into foreign markets and will add India to PPRO's Local Payment Method (LPM) coverage map, it added.

The partnership between NIPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and PPRO will empower the global PSPs, banks, payment gateways and enterprises with payment platforms to expand globally, giving international e-commerce merchants access to Indian consumers, it said.

Consumers can seamlessly make cross-border purchases in Indian rupees using their favourite payment method.

Launched in 2016, UPI is India's most popular instant payment system, already processing 60 per cent of all domestic payments in India and 40 per cent of instant payments processed globally.

UPI as a platform has over 325 million active users and supports 390 banks and 100 third-party apps with complete interoperability.

In March 2023 alone, UPI processed over 8.7 billion transactions, the highest since its launch.

"International payment service providers and their merchants can now easily tap into an e-commerce market that is expected to reach an estimated USD 111 billion next year, and predicted to almost double to USD 200 billion by 2026, said Simon Black, CEO-PPRO.

"By integrating UPI into PPRO's digital payments infrastructure through a single connection, we have removed all the operational complexity for our partners to sell cross-border into India at scale," he said.