G20 Summit: Delegates to experience UPI, e-Rupee without India bank account; here’s how it will work

G20 Summit has started in India and will last till September 10. During these two days, the government has planned to showcase various facets of India to the visiting delegates including advancements made by the country in the Digital Public Infrastructure. For this, the government has set up a Digital India Experience Zone at the Bharat Mandapam and UPI is also an integral part of it. However, foreign delegates attending the G20 Summit in New Delhi can still use the e-Rupee and UPI to make payments in India without having an Indian bank account. RBI has launched two options for digital payments for foreign visitors: UPI One World and e-Rupee.

UPI One World is a prepaid payment instrument integrated with UPI services, while e-rupee is India’s central bank digital currency issued by the RBI. According to Kashyap Balakrishnan, General Manager in the Department of Payments and Settlements at RBI, UPI One World allows foreign nationals to make digital payments even without an account in an Indian bank. UPI One World service was launched in February this year and caters exclusively to foreign visitors in India. It is a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) that is integrated with UPI.

He also said that four banks – ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank and State Bank of India – have come up with separate applications for foreign delegates through which they can use the e-rupee for payments in India. “The delegates will get a 10-digit voucher code when they sign up using that code, there will be some sum pre-loaded for them so that they can make payments,” he explained.

This facility of UPI payment without an Indian bank account for foreign and NRIs has been made possible due to an RBI circular that came out in February this year to allow access to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and foreign nationals visiting India.

Meanwhile, the Digital India Experience Zone at the Bharat Mandapam has a UPI exhibit where the delegates can scan the QR codes to buy goodies and initiate seamless transactions with a nominal payment. They can also experience Aadhaar Face Authentication Software, eSanjeevani, BHASINI, Digilocker, FASTag and more.