New Delhi: India’s Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Bhutanese counterpart Lyonpo Namgay Tshering jointly launched BHIM–UPI project in Bhutan on Tuesday in a virtual event.
With this, Bhutan became the first country outside India to implement the UPI standards for QR deployment and accept mobile-based payments via the BHIM App.
On this occasion, Sitharaman said the services commenced in Bhutan as part of India’s Neighbourhood First policy, and that New Delhi is proud of its accomplishment and delighted to share it with a valued neighbour.
She said that BHIM UPI was a major achievement for digital transactions in India amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 100 million UPI QRs created in the last 5 years and BHIM UPI processing 22 billion transactions worth Rs 41 lakh crore in 2020-21.
Lyonpo Namgay Tshering applauded the Government of India for launching BHIM-UPI services in Bhutan, adding that the two countries’ friendship is growing stronger by the day.
With the launch of BHIM-UPI in Bhutan, cashless transactions at the push of a button will improve the convenience of living and travelling and benefit both the nations’ payment infrastructures with seamless links, facilitating Indian visitors and business people who visit Bhutan each year.
The Finance Minister, as part of the launch, used BHIM- UPI to purchase an organic product from a Bhutanese OGOP outlet, which distributes fresh farm goods prepared organically by the local people in Bhutan.
This event fulfils the two countries’ commitment made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Bhutan in 2019. Following that, India and Bhutan have already enabled Rupay card interoperability in each other’s countries in two phases.
(Venkatesh Iyer)
