India is in talks with Ant International’s Alipay+ to link the country’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the global payments platform, according to two government sources who spoke to Reuters.
The discussions involve the Indian government and the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and centre on enabling cross-border payment connectivity between UPI and Alipay+. If implemented, the linkage would allow Indian users to make digital payments at overseas merchants that are part of the Alipay+ network using UPI-based apps.
Alipay+ is operated by Ant International, a global payments and digital commerce company that was spun off from China’s Ant Group and operates independently out of Singapore. Alipay+ currently connects around 1.8 billion consumer accounts with roughly 150 million merchants across more than 100 markets worldwide.
Meanwhile, UPI has become the backbone of India’s digital payments ecosystem. Run by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the system processes close to 18 billion transactions every month, making it one of the world’s largest real-time payment platforms.
Taken together, the proposed integration would expand the reach of Indian digital payments beyond domestic borders, particularly for travellers and businesses making cross-border transactions. However, the talks remain sensitive, with a final decision to be taken after weighing security conditions, according to Reuters’ sources. Notably, India continues to enforce strict restrictions on Chinese-linked companies, introduced after the 2020 border standoff with China, and these curbs remain formally in place as discussions continue.
India’s Ban On Chinese Apps
India’s restrictions on Chinese digital companies stem from concerns over national security, data privacy, and the sovereignty of its digital ecosystem following the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes. In June 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) invoked Section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000, to block access to 59 mobile apps, citing inputs that the apps were “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, and public order.”
Subsequently, Indian authorities issued additional orders under the same legal provision, banning further groups of apps. In September 2020, 118 additional applications were banned, including Alipay, and in November of the same year, 43 more applications were blocked, including AliExpress, Alibaba Workbench, Alipay Cashier, and AliSuppliers. The restrictions on Chinese apps remain largely in force, and there has been no official government reversal of the block on core platforms such as TikTok or the Alibaba-linked services named in the MeitY orders.
However, some previously banned Chinese apps have returned to India through new business arrangements, rebranding, or third-party partnerships. Shein is a notable example:…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
