Roving Periscope: PM Modi begins India’s re-engagement with Europe, via UPI in France
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With France decorating him with its highest award, his participation as the chief guest in the host country’s Bastille Day Parade on Friday, and his announcement that India’s most successful online payment system UPI will now be available in Europe’s largest nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day state visit to Paris has begun New Delhi’s re-engagement with Europe in view of the emerging geopolitical realities.
His state visit to France, Europe’s largest country and the second largest economy after Germany, is part of a larger plan to shift Europe from the edges of India’s foreign policy to a key priority, with the war in Ukraine showing no signs of being contained, the media reported on Friday.
After receiving the Legion of Honour, France’s highest civilian and military honor, on Thursday, PM Modi thanked French President Emmanuel Macron and France’s first lady Brigitte Macron for hosting him at the Elysee Palace.
Taking to his official Twitter handle, he stated, “I thank President @EmmanuelMacron and Mrs. Macron for hosting me at the Élysée Palace this evening.
PM Modi also addressed the Indian Diaspora in Paris on Thursday evening.
On Friday, he attended the Bastille Day Parade as this year’s chief guest. All three wings of the Indian armed forces were represented in the parade.
As takeaways from his two-day visit, PM Modi and President Macron are likely to finalize and announce key defense deals, including India’s procurement of 26 Rafale-M fighters to operate off the aircraft carriers and three additional Scorpene-class diesel-electric submarines from France.
Apart from India’s defense deals with France, New Delhi’s most important engagement with Paris is the launch of the South Asian nation’s highly successful United Payments Interface (UPI), with which India now accounts for nearly half of all digital payments in the world.
Addressing the Indian community on Thursday, PM Modi said the UPI will now be used in France and will start from Eiffel Tower.
“India and France have agreed to use UPI in France. In the coming days, it will begin from the Eiffel Tower, which means Indian tourists will now be able to pay in rupees,” he added.
The entry of UPI in France will open up huge possibilities in the way Indians can spend as this digital payment mode will do away with cumbersome forex cards and avoid the need to carry cash to spend.
On Thursday, after his arrival to a red-carpet welcome in Paris, PM Modi began his crucial France visit with “fruitful” meetings with his French counterpart Elisabeth Borne and Senate President Gerard Larcher, during which he discussed ways to impart new impetus to India’s multifaceted cooperation and time-tested strategic partnership with the key European nation, the media reported.
India’s UPI powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing, and merchant payments into one hood. It also caters to “peer-to-peer” collect requests, which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.
The UPI revolution began with the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) conducting a pilot launch with 21 member banks in April 2016. Since then, its use has seen tremendous growth. Even street hawkers and roadside kiosks across India now accept UPI payments for as little as Rs. 5 or Rs. 10 and has drastically minimized the use of hard cash.
In 2022, the NPCI signed an MoU with France’s fast and secure online payment system, called Lyra. This year, UPI and Singapore’s PayNow signed an agreement, allowing users in either country to make cross-border transactions.
The UAE, Bhutan, and Nepal have already adopted the UPI payment system. NPCI International is in talks to extend UPI services in the US, other European countries, and West Asia.
