Japan Explores Methods to Be part of India’s UPI Payment System

Japan is mulling to affix India’s UPI fee system and promote cooperation on the digital identification system, an official assertion mentioned on Friday.

Bhutan, Nepal, Singapore and UAE have already began accepting Unified Payment Interface (UPI) fee techniques.

“Almost every global forum, whether G20, SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) or G7, wherever we are presenting Hon’ble PM Modi’s Digital India vision, has very good traction.

“People perceive how Modi ji has democratised digital know-how. I thank the Japanese digital minister. He has accepted PM Modi’s very deep and in depth imaginative and prescient of Digital India,” Union Minister for IT and Telecom Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

Japanese Digital Minister Kono Taro earlier on Friday said in an interview with a media channel that Japan is mulling joining India’s UPI system and working on mutually recognising digital identities as well.

“We simply had our G7 Digital Ministers’ assembly final month and we had our Indian Digital Minister Mr Vaishnaw be part of with us and proper now. Japan and India try to advertise digital cooperation.”

“We are actually significantly serious about becoming a member of Indian UPI, the funds system and likewise, we’re considering how we are able to mutually recognise e-ID, for nicely – beginning with cooperation, so we are able to enhance interoperability,” Taro said. 

According to a report published last month, UPI, debit and credit cards, and prepaid payment instruments — Mobile and Prepaid cards —processed 87.92 billion transactions worth Rs. 149.5 trillion during 2022 in India. In terms of UPI, Person-to-Merchant (P2M) and Person-to-Person (P2P) are the most preferred payment modes among consumers with a market share of 40 percent and 44 percent in terms of transactions volume (UPI was 84 percent in total), according to Worldline in its India Digital Payments Annual Report.