G-20 tourists can use UPI at select Indian airports: How?

Source: The post is based on the article “G-20 tourists can use UPI at select Indian airports: How?” published in Indian Express on 13th February 2023.

What is the News?

Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has permitted all inbound travellers from the Group of Twenty (G-20) countries and non-resident Indians to access Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for their merchant payments (P2M) at select airports while they are in India.

What has been announced by the RBI?

Banks and non-banks authorized to issue prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), can issue rupee-denominated full-KYC PPIs to foreign nationals and NRIs visiting India. 

Such PPIs can also be issued in a co-branding arrangement with entities authorized to deal in foreign exchange under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The PPIs can be issued in the form of wallets linked to UPI — like Google Pay and PhonePe — and can be used for merchant payments (P2M) only.

Loading and reloading of such PPIs will be against receipt of foreign exchange by cash or through any payment instrument.

Who can utilize this system?

To start with, this facility will be extended to travellers from the G-20 countries, arriving at select international airports.

Going forward, this facility will be enabled across all other entry points in the country.

How will the PPIs be issued?

The PPIs can be issued after physical verification of the Passport and Visa of the customers at the point of issuance.

The conversion to the Indian rupee can be carried out only by entities authorized to deal in foreign exchange under FEMA.

The unutilised balances in such PPIs can be encashed in foreign currency or transferred ‘back to source’ (payment source from where the PPI was loaded), in compliance with foreign exchange regulations.